The Crisis June-July 1953: Vol 60 Iss 6

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JUNE-JULY, 1953
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Role Of The Neste NE Oe"

WILSON RECOR

How The Taylors Ge. sesult

MANDELL ANDREWS

As Africa Comes OF Age

SALVADOR DE MADARIAGA

Argentine Diptych—
Meliton And Schimu

IRENE DIGGS

To Crisis Subscribers
and Readers

The August and September Issues of the
Crisis are combined in one Issue, August-

September, out September 1

PLEASE DO NOT BE UPSET WHEN YOU FAIL TO
RECEIVE YOUR AUGUST ISSUE ON AUGUST 1

The August-September Issue is

our Annual Educational Number

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JUNE-JL

THE CRISIS

Founded 1910
REG. U. S. PAT. OFF.

A RECORD OF THE DARKER RACES

Editor: James W. Ivy
Editorial Advisory Board: Lewis S. Gannett, Arthur B. Spingarn,
Sterling A. Brown, Walter White, Carl Murphy

Vol. 60, No. 6 Whole Number 504

IN THIS ISSUE
June-July, 1953

ROLE OF THE NEGRO INTELLECTUAL—By Wilson Record 329
HOW THE TAYLORS GET RESULTS—By Mandell Andrews 337
AS AFRICA COMES OF AGE—By Salvador de Madariaga 346
JIM CROW COCA COLA MACHINE—A Picture 350
| ARGENTINE DIPTYCH—MELITON AND SCHIMU—By Irene Diggs 352
EDITORIALS sicanees 356
DEPARTMENTS
| LOOKING AND LISTENING 359
ALONG THE NAACP BATTLEFRONT 363
} BRANCH NEWS ; 368
+ COLLEGE AND SCHOOL NEWS 373
| BOOK REVIEWS 38-1
LEGAL DIRECTORY 384

Tue Crisis was founded in 1910 and és the official organ of the National Association for
| the Advancement of Colored People. Tug Crisis ts published monthly from October to May
inclusiz e and bimonthly June- July and August-September by The Crisis Publishing Co., Inc.,
at 20 West 40th Street, New York 18, N. Y. Walter White, secretary; and Mrs. Lillian A.
Alexander, treasurer, The subscription price is $1.50 a year or 15 cents a copy. Foreign sub-
scription $1.75. The date of expiration of each subscription ts printed on the wrapper. When
the subscription is due a blue renewal blank is enclosed. The address of a subscription may be
changed as often as desired, but both the old and new address must be given and three weeks’
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must be accompanied by return postage, and while THE Crisis uses every care, it assumes no
responsibility for their safety o transit. Reentered as second class matter July 22, 1949, at
the post office at New York, Y., under the act of March 3, 1879.

The contents of Tue a, are copyrighted. Copyright 1953 by The Crisis Publishing
Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Ao 33

t

JUNE-JULY, 1953

327

CROWNING THE QUEEN—Herbert Wright (third from left), NAACP _ na-

tional youth secretary, crowns Lola Walden as queen of the Oranges and Maple- |
| forts t

wood youth membership campaign. Others in the group are Robert Hairston,
youth council president, and Everett Felder (on right), program and research
chairman.

Fp ee,

DID YOU KNOW —

That Dr. John Vancerlle De Grasse was the first Negro physician to

be admitted to a medical association?

Dr. De Grasse, a graduate of Bowdoin and the Hampton Medical Col-

lege, was admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1854.

George |

328 THE CRISIS

B Role |
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JUNE-JL

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@ Role of the Negro intellectual in inspiring and organizing

Role of the
Negro Intellectual

By Wilson Record

LMOST a decade ago Gunnar
Myrdal in An American
Dilemma lamented the deep

cynicism and the chronic defeatism
he observed among Negro intellec-
tuals. At the same time, however, he
emphasized that from among this
group had come the founders and
leaders of numerous movements
whose aims were a redressing of the
racial balance in this country. Now
cynical Negroes do not inspire cour-
age among other.members of the
race. And if they regard the plight
of America’s largest racial minority
as hopeless, they are not likely to
form the spearheads of organized ef-
forts to loosen old bonds, to cast off
traditional ties, to achieve new goals
and thus improve the position of the
race.

Myrdal’s views when juxtaposed
in this fashion, fairly, and with tex-
tual verification, are not easily rec-
onciled. A part of the difficulty lies
in his failure to operate with any
precise conception of the Negro in-

WILSON RECORD, a frequent Crisis
contributor, is author of the book “The
Negro and the Communist Party.”

JUNE-JULY, 1953

tellectual. Corollary with this is his
neglect to designate specific sub-
types of the group to whom certain
of his generalizations might apply.
The tendency to speak of Negro in-
tellectuals as a more or less homog-
enuous sub-species of intellectualus
americanus is all too common. It is
not unexpected that it leads, as in
the case of Myrdal and others, to
apparently contradictory assertions.
This is not to say that at certain
levels and for certain purposes gen-
eralizations of this type are unwar-
ranted. Rather it is to emphasize
that it is difficult, if not impossible,
to make meaningful statements
about Negro intellectuals, or any
similar group, unless the specific
context and the reference is clear in
each instance.

Some Negro intellectuals are
chronically cynical and exhibit a
quiet but nonetheless bitter resigna-
tion to a subordinate place for them-
selves and the race. But others who
have an equally valid claim to the
title “intellectual” are extremely op-
timistic about their individual life

chances and those of the group as a
whole in an American environment.

329

Many Negro intellectuals are highly
race conscious and display militant
color pride while assuming an ag-

gressive stance in the face of accu-
mulated odds of three centuries.

Sull others, consumed by self-
hatred, when not apologizing for the
accident of their origin, seek to
shear off the marks of racial identity
and thus remove the one thing that
is definitive of their being. There are
some Negro intellectuals whose pri-
mary concern is race; it is always
focal in their thinking and acting.
And in contrast stand those for
whom race is a minor consideration,
a fact reflected in the absence or
subordinate place of Negro “themes”
in their creative efforts. Some Negro
intellectuals make a serious attempt
to identify with or at least become
the spokesmen of their brethren
“fartherest down,” while others re-
gard themselves as members of an
elite; they consciously avoid any
gesture or action that would suggest
a concern with the colored common
man. These variations in the self-
images and projected roles of the
Negro intellectuals should suggest
the difficulty in fitting any quick gen-
eralizations to the group as a whole.

SOCIAL SITUATION

Further caution is indicated by the
recognition that logically contradic-
tory self-conceptions and outward
behavior patterns frequently char-
acterize the individual Negro intel-
lectual. Depending on specific sets
of social situations, he may be cyn-
ical or optimistic, highly race con-
scious or indifferent to color, proud
of his origin or apologetic for his
ancestry, a spokesman for the mass
of Negroes or their most severe and

330

detached critic. The resolving of these
conflicting tendencies may pose acute
problems for some, for those who
are unable to compartmentalize var- |
ied experiences, who cannot accept
their own and the world’s irration-
alities, and who must always inform }
the right hand of what the left is!
doing. For others the problem of
logical and consistent integration
does not exist. The understanding of
the individual Negro intellectual does ,
not hinge upon our ability to apply
any neat label which would encom-
pass all his characteristics but upon
a capacity to delineate those situa-
tions within which he will respond
in some characteristic way.
Intellectuals are those persons who
by temperament, and usually by pro-
fession, are concerned primarily with
ideas; that sector of a population, to
use Koestler’s phrase, “that aspires
to independent thinking.” Corollary
with this preoccupation with ideas
is specialization in the use of words
and symbols and high achievement
in the arts of communication —
speaking, reading, and writing. Ne- |
gro intellectuals display these char- |
acteristics, but in addition they are |
regarded by others—and by them-
selves—as members of a socially, if
not always biologically, defined ra-
cial minority. In a society which
places such great emphasis on racial
and ethnic differences, which stereo- |
types and segregates and discrimin-
ates on the basis of color, the Ne-
gro intellectual is bound to acquire
certain features not commonly found
among the general species, and to re-
act against societal pressures which
his pale-skinned colleagues can never
really experience.
However, no sub-group of Ne-

THE CRISIS

groes re:
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JUNE-JUI

groes responds in the same way to a
;more or less uniform set of pres-
sures in a white dominated society.
Negro intellectuals are no exception;
on the contrary there is probably
less uniformity in their reaction to
race prejudice than among any other
} type within the Negro society. This

Is °

~~
3
——

lack of uniformity is a consequence

OF | of several factors—the pronounced
| individualism which is characteristic
Ol \of any honest and creative being,
“S tthe Negro intellectual’s wider ex-
ly posure to alternate ways of behav-
nN jang, and the complex and highly
»N personalized psychological mesh
‘t- through which the Negro intellectual
nd | in particular filters experience.

ho INTELLECTUAL TYPES

.,

th However, to insist that the re-

to | sponse of the Negro intellectual to
es | Tace prejudice is ultimately individ-
ry | ualized is not to suggest that in
as | certain respects it is not highly simi-
-ds | lar to that of many of his colleagues.
nt Indeed it is possible to devise a sys-

tem of classification for Negro in-
je- | tellectuals by a continuum along
ar- | Which they may be distributed and
ire | Within which they may be grouped.
m- | Thus we could begin with the “Uncle
if | fom” type of intellectual (and there
rae} are some) on the right and move
ch | Step-by-step to the radical equalitar-
jal | ans on the other end. We would
20- | find that not all Negro intellectuals
in- | ate cynical, not all are optimistic,
not all are defeatist, and not all are

oO

Ne- :
ire | 88gressive. We would have some
nd | Specific points of reference in dis-

cussing the group as a whole and its

. various sub-types.

yer While the general run of intellec-
tuals in America has rarely felt at

Je-} home, has never had a sense of

JUNE-JULY, 1953

meaningful social responsibility and
usefulness in our business-industrial
order, their Negro counterparts have
been continuously alienated by a
white-dominated society, even though
their status is probably higher than
that of any other group of Negroes.
Contrary to the claims of the eco-
nomic determinists, this rejection is
not a necessary function of our cap-
italist-type economy although it does
bear certain characteristic markings
of a bourgeois system.

Negro intellectuals have reacted in
a variety of ways to the exclusionist
policies with which they are perpet-
ually confronted. Some stand aloof
from racial struggle and address
themselves to non-racial endeavors.
Such a man was William Stanley
Braithwaite. Others have chosen to
ignore the implications of race, they
measure themselves and others as
individuals and maintain only a dis-
tant identity with race movements.
In this connection one thinks imme-
diately of Zora Neale Hurston and
of the dark American Daughter, Era
Bell Thompson. Some Negro intel-
lectuals have found the American
environment at times unendurable
and have journeyed to other lands
where the color bars do not encom-
pass the mind so completely. This
was Claude McKay’s response at one
time, as well as that of Richard
Wright.

ALWAYS RETURN

The fact that they almost invari-
ably return is partial testimony to
the failure of their mission. And it
underscores the fact that after all,
they too are Americans. Other Ne-
gro intellectuals have fought back
against race prejudice with the wea-
pons which they knew best to em-

331

ploy—Frederick Douglass with his
provocative writings, Kelly Miller
with his bitter and ironical jabs at
white supremacy, W. E. B. DuBois
(at one time) with fine moral cour-
age and scientific sociology, Carter
Woodson with historical data and
sharp scholarship, James Weldon
Johnson with the novel, the poem,
the autobiography, and Carl Rowan
and Ted Poston with perceptive and
thorough reporting which lay bare
the less palatable aspects of Negro-
white relations, and so on.

While not all colored intellectuals
have been in the forefront in criticis-
ing and seeking to change a preju-
diced society, there is hardly a racial
protest or betterment movement
which at least some of them have
not inspired, organized, and led. The
Negro colleagues of Phillips, Garri-
son, and Lovejoy in the abolitionist
movement were primarily intellec-
tuals, free men who had acquired
the ability to read, write, and speak
and thus to project new goals for
their less literate brethren. The con-
vention movement during the Recon-
struction and _ Post-Reconstruction
pericds was largely a result of the
efforts of teachers, preachers, writers,
and professionals among the newly
liberated Negroes to maintain their
war-won gains and push on in the
direction of full citizenship. Even
Booker T. Washington, who stood
above all for racial peace at the
white man’s price, could not have
shaped the thought and action of a
whole generation of colored Ameri-
cans had not some of the emerging
intellectuals of the race sanctioned
his program and given it ideological
respectability. The break with the
accommodationist philosophy of the

332

“Man of Tuskegee” was engineered
not by the people who had suffered
most and gained least under it, but
by Negro intellectuals of the north
and east who organized the Niagara
Movement and insisted with DuBois
and Trotter that they would settle
for nothing less than full manhood.}

INTELLECTUALS IN NAACP

No one can examine the forma-
tion and subsequent development of ,
the NAACP without a keen appreci-
ation of the roles played by DuBois,
Trotter, William Pickens, James’
Weldon Johnson, Walter White, Roy
Wilkins, Henry Lee Moon, and Thur-
good Marshall—all men of substan-
tial intellectual achievement. And it
is significant that the sharpest criti-
cism of this organization has been
voiced not by the “practical” men
who thought it was going too far,
but by Negro intellectuals such as |
Ralph Bunche, Oliver Cox, and
Langston Hughes, who objected that
it was not going far enough. The
National Negro Congress, prior to
its capture by the communists, was |
sparked by the Negro academic a
writers, and teachers and social scien- |
tists. One important reason for the}
decline of the National March on/
Washington Movement is found in|
the inability of A. Philip Randolph |
and his colleagues to win any sub-
stantial support for its program
among Negro intellectuals. Certain-
ly we must conclude that Marcus
Garvey and the Universal Negro Im-
provement Association would have
endured for a considerable longer
time if the support rather than the
opposition of the colored writers and
talkers had been sought.

Obviously, even those Negro in-

i
|

THE CRISIS

tellectu
the pl
ments
not of
share t
tures.

with i
ideas ¢
the st
of whi
very fe
and mi
munity
ments

usually
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scious
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Myrda
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JUNE-JL

18

di.)

en- |
t

tellectuals who actively participate in
the protest and betterment move-
ments to which we have referred are
not of like mind. However, they do
share together certain significant fea-
tures. They are concerned primarily
with ideas, and they believe that
ideas can be used as instruments in
the struggle against various forms
of white supremacy. They come with
very few exceptions from: the upper
and middle groups of the Negro com-
munity. Their educational achieve-
ments are high and college training,
usually with specialized graduate
work, is quite common.

All are men who, if they were not
dedicated to racial protest as a pro-
fession, would stand relatively high
in other occupations of their choos-
ing. All have gained or could gain
from our bi-racia] society substan-
tially more than their less fortunate
fellows whose lot they are out to
improve. All of them find in one
way or another a much wider ac-
ceptance by at least certain segments
of the white community than do the
non-intellectual members of the race.
Most of them are highly race con-
scious and display marked race pride.
While their independent intellectual
achievement may account in part for
their wider recognition, the fact that
they are either active participants in
betterment movements or in some
form symbolize the aspirations of the
mass of Negroes is probably more
crucial. And it is quite obvious that,
although they manifest a healthy

skepticism about what can be done
for race betterment and frequently
disagree on what ought to be done,
they are free of the cynicism which
Myrdal ascribes to the bulk of Negro
intellectuals.

JUNE-JULY, 1953

INTELLECTUALS SENSITIVE

Now there is nothing contradic-
tory in the fact that these Negro in-
tellectuals who have gained much
under the existing patterns of race
relations are foremost among those
demanding fundamental changes. In
this respect their position is similar
to that of the colored intellectuals
who are emerging as leaders of colo-
nial peoples in Asia and Africa, The
Negro man of learning, by virtue of
this very learning, is most keenly
aware of the gap between professed
equalitarian ideals and the practices
of discrimination. Not only this, but
he is highly conscious of alternate
possibilities for racial adjustment.
Finally, he has the capacity, which
the bulk of his fellow Negroes lack,
to communicate his knowledge not
only to Negroes, but to a white audi-
ence as well.

There is also a personal equation
to be considered. The Negro intel-
lectual learns that regardless of how
talented he is, or how productive he
may be, there will be certain barriers
to both his personal and professional
achievement. Some can resign them-
selves to half a loaf and appear
thankful for it, but others will de-
mand their just due. And when this
is not forthcoming, they are pre-
pared to use such skills as they have
in an effort to redress the balance.
Thus in giving the Negro intellectual
the gift of tongues, or at least per-
mitting him to acquire a facility with
ideas and words, the white society
frequently sews for itself a hair
shirt. And as more intellectuals
emerge from the segregated Negro
world, the rub will become more
irritating and the scratches will pene-
trate the surface.

Not only this, the Negro intellec-
tual who chooses racial protest will
find that his own self-conception is
indirectly reinforced by the achieve-
ments of colored men in the emerg-
ing states of Africa and Asia. I
doubt that many Negro intellectuals
in this country have failed to experi-
ence at least vicariously a sense of
power and an understandable feeling
of revenge against whites in observ-
ing Soekarno, a Dutch-schooled in-
tellectual, toss his teachers and mas-
ters out of Indonesia, or in seeing
Nehru, British-trained, and symbolic
of the leadership of Indian intellec-
tuals, give Lord Mountebatten and
his troops their walking papers, or
finally, in watching Kwame Nkru-
mah, a graduate of Lincoln Univer-

sity in Pennsylvania, being released
from jail to become Prime Minister
of the Gold Coast, while old-line

colonia] administrators rubbed their
chins, stared at their tea, and won-
dered how far it would all go.

SHORT-RUN CHANGES

At a time when fear and confu-
sion and withdrawal shape the moods
of many of America’s white intel-
lectuals the race-conscious Negro
men of ideas and words present a
contrast of optimism and aggressive-
ness. There are, it seems to me, two
reasons for this. First, the Negro
intellectuals who have concerned
themselves with race movements have
usually visualized their task as one
of introducing a series of short-run
changes in the pattern of Negro
white relations. While they have pro-
jected the ultimate goals of full ra-
cial manhood, they have not been
diverted from their day-to-day tasks
by a concern with the ultimate and

334

drastic re-ordering of the larger so-
ciety. Secondly, the issues with
which they have dealt are still with
us, and are underscored by the ever-
widening implications of race preju-
dice in international relations. In
contrast, the problems with which
many white intellectuals were con-
cerned in the 30’s and 40’s no longer
exist, or have been temporarily
solved, or have become so unpopular
that one discusses them only at con-
siderable risk.

We would also suggest that the
intellectual race leader is_ better

equipped to absorb temporary re-
versals. He is well aware that past
struggles for race rights have been
characterized by retreats as well as
advances, by crucial losses as well as
significant gains. Consequently he is
not given over to easy optimism or
deep despair, depending on the im-
mediate circumstances, Furthermore,
his Own grievances remain similar
to those of the other members of
his race. The white intellectual can
no longer go to the millions of un-
employed in search of a complaint
and a leadership role. But the Negro
intellectual who functions as race
spokesman will find that while Jim
Crow has lost a few of his feathers,
he remains a vicious bird indeed.
Because the intellectual race leader
is closer to the mass of his fellows
he is not likely to overestimate their
capacity to act or to discount their
ability to respond under a given set
of circumstances. Myrdal is hardly
the first to confuse this hardheaded
realism with cynicism.

Negro intellectuals will continue
to be a source of ferment in the col-
ored as well as in the larger white
society. And for a long time to

THE CRISIS

|
|
|

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zation
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TNE —

come they will probably be a domi-
nant element in various race organi-
zations. However, there are signs,
albeit faint, which suggest that their
crucial role of the past fifty years is
diminishing. There is some evidence
that fewer members of this elite are
willing to pay the price of race lead-
ership, and it is admittedly a high
one. Not only does the job involve
hard and continuous work, but it is
fraught with conflicting social pres-
sures and psychological tensions of
which even the most sympathetic
outsider is usually unaware. Coupled
with this is the development of wider
opportunities for the intellectual Ne-
gro to his talents in activities
only incidentally connected with ra-
cial betterment. In addition there is
the unresponsiveness of the mass of
Negroes whose most distressing prob-
lems have been at least temporarily
alleviated and who are inclined to
turn a less attentive ear to exhorta-
tions of their men of intellect. Para-
doxically, both sets of conditions are
in part, perhaps considerable part, a
consequence of the earlier activities
of the colored intellectuals.

Another sign is found in the fact
that racial protest and betterment is
being increasingly institutionalized.
This paves the way for different lead-
ership types—for the administrator,
the public relations specialist, the
trained researcher and the legal ex-
pert. Within such a structure the
Negro intellectual who is distinguish-
ed by his agitational and prophetic

use

your new address.

JUNE-JULY, 1953

CHANGE OF ADDRESS
When you want to change your address, please give us three weeks’ notice.
It takes that long to “process” the change. And please give your old as well as

skills and by his capacity to articu-
late moral dichotomies, has a much
less specific role. To insist that these
developments are of no great conse-
quence at the moment is not to un-
derestimate their future significance.

“TALENTED TENTH”

Some half century ago, in his long-
famous essay, DuBois declared that
the Negro would be saved by the
race’s talented tenth, its “exceptional”
men. And the reference, it was clear,
was to men like himself, the highly
race-conscious intellectual. It has
been customary for a considerable
time to discount this claim and to
pose against it substantial contrary
evidence. But it is a bit ironical that
those who have disputed it most
heatedly are themselves “exceptional”
men by almost any standards that
one chooses to apply. In their own
disagreement they tend to verify the
truth of the proposition.

Perhaps the Negro intellectuals in
the future will become obsolete as
leaders, but no one can review the
ups and downs of racial movements
since the turn of the century with-
out realizing how indispensable they
were. Certainly none can claim that
a large number of them were cynical
or defeatist, or that a grasp of ideas
convinced them that the plight of the
race was hopeless. And if the Negro
in America is not certain to be saved
by his intellectuals, he is sure to be
damned without them.

e
A QUEEN CROWNED—The Rev. Mr. L. Francis Griffin, pastor of the First
Baptist church of Farmville, Virginia, known as “the fighting parson” for his
uncompromising stand on civil rights, places the crown on attractive Mrs. Margaret
Carpenter and declares her “Mrs. Prince Edward County NAACP.” Mrs. Carpenter
led more than twenty contestants in raising funds for the branch's recent Queens’
Defense Fund Contest.

THE CRISIS

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JUNE-JI

juvenile delinquency

® Story of a recreational program which successfully combats

How the Taylors
Get Results

By Mandell Andrews

ee HENEVER I hear adults

complaining about juve-

nile delinquents,” says
Lou Taylor of Roselle, New Jersey,
“I get pretty burned up. You can tell
that most of them have never taken
the trouble to find out how easy it
is to bring out the good in young
people.”

Taylor, 56, is the father of three
children but his convictions stem
from a much broader base of ob-
servation. He and his wife, Mildred,
play host to upwards of 500 young-
sters every week through their work
in a community recreation program
in Roselle. Many years ago they de-
veloped a program of recreational
activities to keep young people oc-
cupied during their normally idle
hours. The plan, continuous through-
out the year, was designed to en-
courage natural aptitudes, promote
good sportsmanship and combat ju-
venile delinquency, by keeping the
children off the streets. Some years

irst
his
ret
ter
ns’

MANDELL ANDREWS is the pen
name of a New York business man.

JUNE-JULY, 1953

ago they had a chance to put the
program into effect when Mildred
Taylor was appointed director of a
new recreation program at the Lin-
coln Elementary School in Roselle
and Lou became her volunteer as-
sistant.

Tuesday and Friday nights, Lou
Taylor leaves his desk in the offices
of the Esso Standard Oil Company,
in New York’s Radio City promptly
at five p.m., hastens by subway and
ferry to New Jersey and catches the
5:42 express by the skin of his teeth
just like any other commuter. But
less than an hour later he has
changed from his business suit to
the slacks, sweatshirt and sneakers
of an athletic coach and is hurrying
up the block to the Lincoln School.
The two-story red-brick building,
busy during the day with 350 pupils
from kindergarten age through sixth
grade, has been dark and deserted.
But as Lou and his wife switch on
the lights, a crowd of neighborhood
children gathers on the doorstep.
When Lou unlocks the doors they
pour noisily inside and scatter to the

337

mn
ment

In
gram
floor

given

seaso

lendi
ing g
ment
Visins
as
may
petiti

D«
er st
up W
Lou
punc
glov

coac

LOU TAYLOR is not only ade pt at teaching his youngsters sports, but he is also
a Skilled instructor in the handicrafts. We see him here instructip {-)

ig? ad mixed {

clal

group in leather weaving and sculpture painting

THE CRISIS

sO

al

gymnasium, classrooms and the base-
ment.

In a few minutes the evening pro-
gram is in full swing. On the gym
floor there are basketball and volley
ball games, foul shooting and quoit
contests. Up on the stage of the
auditorium girls rehearse for the
fashion and talent shows that are
given at intervals throughout the
season. Mildred Taylor moves calm-
ly about, oblivious to the uproar,
lending suggestions to the rehears-
ing groups, supplying the accompani-
ment for budding choristers, super-
vising ping pong matches and acting
as mediator in any disputes which
may be born from the spirit of com-
petition.

BOXING PUPILS

Down in the basement, in a form-
er storeroom that has been spruced
up with multiple coats of whitewash,
Lou Taylor, amidst a thunder of
punching bags, thudding of boxing
gloves and clangor of bar _ bells,
coaches boxing, wrestling and gym-
nastics.

Lou gets a kick out of some of
his boxing pupils. “Once in a while
one of them gets smart and decides
to give ‘the old man’ a boxing les-
son. The only trouble is that he’s
probably a ‘head hunter’ like most
of them are these days. He’s so busy
aiming shots at my face that he
leaves his midsection unprotected.
Then, when I reach in and tap him
in the solar plexus, you should see
the astonished look on his face.”

Tuesday evenings during the win-
ter, the program is reserved for “out
of school” young veople who are
working part or full time to support
themselves or their families, Friday
evenings there is usually a basketball

JUNE-JULY, 1953

game and dance for high school teen-
agers; on Saturday evening there is
a special program for younger chil-
dren. The winter recreation schedule
runs from November until April; a
summer: playground program from
nine to five from July Ist until Labor
Day. When Lou Taylor takes the
month’s vacation he is entitled to
as a thirty-year employee of Esso
Standard Oil, he devotes at least two
weeks of it to the playground, coach-
ing baseball, boxing and track. Mrs.
Taylor serves as playground super-
visor and teaches classes in ceramics,
weaving, leathercraft and shellcraft.

While most of the neighborhood
children come to participate in the
games and contests, there are others
who just like to stand around and
talk. This is enough for the Taylors.

“Youngsters want to be part of a
group,” Mildred Taylor observed re-
cently. “Even if they just come
around and watch the others, they
still fee] that they belong.”

“Probably the most important
thing of all,” added Lou, “is that
they’re here at the school instead of
over on the Avenue.” He was re-
ferring to busy Route 27, two blocks
away, which divides Roselle and
Linden. At night it blazes with the
gaudy neon signs of cafes, bars and
theaters.

“BAD BOYS”

“Before the ‘rec program’ got go-
ing,” explained one of the neighbor-
hood boys who was listening, “the
kids from around here would always
be over there, hanging around the
street corners and candy stores and
sitting in the booths of the ‘sweet
shops.’ Every once in a while some
of them would get into trouble.”

“I don’t think there is a single one

339

of our neighborhood children who
is really bad,” Lou Taylor broke in,
“but when they were left alone night
after night with no place to work off
their excess energies, they would
just naturally start raising some kind
of cain. One boy would suggest
something and the rest would fellow
right along rather than be left out.
But now when they get through an
evening of sports and games, they’re
ready to go straight home to bed.”

“Another fact that’s been brought
out,” declared his wife, “is that the
boys and girls actually prefer to be
together here rather than in those
Avenue places. At first we weren't so
sure. The young people would come
to our dances, but we noticed that
when the evening was only about
half over they’d start drifting away.
Finally we realized they were going
over to the Avenue for refreshments.
After that we started serving soft
drinks, frankfurters and ice cream
at cost. Now we have to chase them
out of here on dance nights.”

“It used to be,” Lou Taylor con-
tinued, “that when some of them
raised a rumpus in one of those
‘sweet shops,’ the proprietor might
telephone for a police car. A boy
might be taken down to headquar-
ters, word would get around that
he’d been ‘in trouble’ and he’d have
a hard time living it down.

“But if any of them get out of
hand at the ‘rec hall,’ we have a
much worse punishment—they’re
locked out and not allowed to come
to dances and basketball games. Just
the other day several boys started a
scrap. I stopped it and locked them
out. Half an hour later they were
back, tapping on the door and call-
ing through the glass that they

340

wanted to apologize. The boy who
started the fight was so ashamed he
didn’t come back that night.”

When the Taylors started the pro-
gram many people predicted that the
children would get tired of it in a
month. Now the children start ring-
ing the telephone off the wall in Oc-
tober to find out about the winter
season. They’ve got so many athletic
teams, dramatic shows and _ talent
groups to organize they can hardly
wait for the season to begin. “This
isn’t because there’s anything unique
about our program,” says Mildred
Taylor. “Any community that starts
a youth recreation center will get
the same results. There’s really no
limit to what you can accomplish if
you once awaken the interest of the
children and get the kind of cooper-
ation that we have had from the
Roselle Board of Education. It will
also bring a much more contented
and well-behaved student body.”

ENTHUSIASTIC PRAISE

Some of the most enthusiastic
comment of all about the recreation
center comes from the Roselle Po-
lice Department. Says Sergeant
Charles Redecki of the Roselle
Borough Police. “We’ve been the
first to notice the difference since
the town’s recreation and playground
programs really got rolling. Lots less
kids seem to be in trouble. Com-
plaints about hoodlumism and calls
to break up street fights have
dropped. Not only are the programs
a healthy activity for the kids and a
means of teaching them good sports-
manship and community spirit, but
they also really do cut juvenile de-
linquency. We policemen know it
because we’ve seen it happen.”

THE CRISIS

MRS. }

is very

JUNE-JU

John Keller

MRS. MILDRED TAYLOR, who is a warm mother and an efficient home maker,
is very active in the recreational work of her husband. Here she teaches the young-
sters basket weaving, with the assistance of her husband.

JUNE-JULY, 1953

Cheerful, vigorous Lou Taylor
was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey,
the son of a coachman from Vir-
ginia, While he and his brothers and
sisters were still young, the family
was broken up by the deaths of his
father and mother. “Nobody wanted
us as young people,” he recalls, “and
I’ve never forgotten how it felt.”

He worked in Elizabeth and ad-
jacent industrial communities as a
laborer and sign painter’s apprentice.
When the United States entered
World War I he was only fourteen,
but he added three non-existent years
to his age and enlisted in the Navy.
Between trans-Atlantic crossings he

made a Navy boxing team and
showed such promise as a light-

weight pugilist that his shipmates ad-
vised him to turn professional, After
the war, however, Taylor went to
work for Esso Standard Oil. His first
job was coal passer and tube blower
in the huge refinery at Linden, New
Jersey. In his spare time he boxed
professionally and coached basket-
ball at the community center in Eliz-
abeth. The star of one of his cham-
pionship teams was a tall, pretty
girl named Mildred Van de Vere.
An all-around athlete, she also won
medals in running and the broad
jump. She studied music at Manhat-

tan College but her main interest
remained playground and_ recrea-
tional work with children.

In 1919, she and Lou did their

first youth work together at the Rec-
reation Center in Elizabeth. “Even
then,” she remembers, “we learned
ways to handle kids that we still use
today.”
“INSIDE JOB”

They also fell in love and in 1924

were married. Marriage brought re-

342

sponsibilities that made Lou Taylor
decide that he wanted an “inside
job.” Every day after work he cor-
nered the head of his department
and asked for a transfer. In those
days it was almost unheard of for
the company to shift an unskilled
Negro refinery worker to the New
York offices, but Lou’s boss was so
impressed by his capacity that he
moved heaven and earth to get the
transfer for him. In 1928 Lou start-
ed in the company’s downtown Man-
hattan offices as a messenger. Since
then he has been promoted through
a variety of posts until today he is
Clerk of Technical Publications for
Esso Standard in charge of a room
full of engineering journals.

Mildred Taylor, meanwhile, gave
piano lessons and did staff recreation
work in Elizabeth schools. As soon
her eldest child reached school
age she joined the Roselle parent-
teachers Association and has been
extremely active in this organization
ever since. Her energy, calm com-
mon sense and keen interest in com-
munity welfare and youth organiza-
tions won her the respect of her
fellow residents, both white and col-
ored. Two years ago she was elected
president of the Abraham Clark
High School Parent-Teachers Asso-
ciation, and subsequently to the
Union County PTA, becoming one
of the few women in the
country to hold such positions.

RACE RELATIONS

Soon after the war a young scout-
master enlisted her aid in gaining
use of the Lincoln School’s gym for
his troop meetings. Appearing be-
fore a Roselle Board of Recreation
Committee, Mildred Taylor stated
such a convincing case for using the

as

Negro

THE CRISIS

school
that sh
tor anc
round
enterta
Witt
staff <
Johnso
and Le
throug!
such a
have \
eight ti
in the
In t
have S
in race
at wor
workin
only of
to Neg
and m
employ
laborat
and se
Roselle
munity
a limi
groups.
ilies, i
there ir
and ay
were a
Now tl
develory
Negro
years I
home,
frame |
Re-z
School
and co
recreati
ly colo
door st
across

JUNE-JUI

ee

school for an evening recreation hall
that she was given the post of direc-
tor and authority to organize a year-
round schedule of games, sports and
entertainment.

With the help of her husband and
staff assistants such as Raymond
Johnson, who coaches basketball,
and Louise Buckler, she has carried
through a program which has been
such a success that Roselle residents
have voted to its budget
eight times over the original amount
in the last four years.

increase

In twenty-five years the Taylors
have seen slow but steady progress
in race relations both at home and
at work. When Lou Taylor started
working in New York almost the
only office positions in the city open
to Negroes were those of messenger
and matron. Today, his company
employs Negroes as clerks, chemists,
laboratory technicians,
and heads. In years past
Roselle, traditionally a white com-
munity with no industries, had only
a limited tolerance for minority
groups. When the first colored fam-
ilies, including the Taylors, moved
there in the twenties, the only homes
and apartments available to them
were at the southern end of town.
Now this section and a new housing
development contain both white and
Negro families. For the past ten
years Lou Taylor has owned his own
home, an attractive, two-story white
frame house on Harrison Avenue.

Re-zoning

secretaries
section

has made Lincoln
School a fifty-fifty mixture of white
and colored children. The evening
recreation programs still attract most-
ly colored youngsters, but the out-
door summer playground cuts right
across the color line drawing Negro

JUNE-JULY, 1953

and white children of every extrac-
tion from all over town.

“Contact is the key to progress
between white and colored peoples,”
Mildred Taylor declares. “Not only
among children but among adults,
too. It’s the only way for both
groups to learn to see each other as
individuals.”

Seconding the observation, Lou
Taylor recalls the afternoon not long
ago when he broke up a fracas be-
tween a colored eight-year-old and
his white counterpart. One lad had
a black eye and the other a bloody
nose. The news travelled fast and
within an hour the irate parents
rushed down to the playground and
were squaring off with heating words.
Stepping in between them, Lou Tay-
lor pointed to the boys. They were
again playing happily together as if
nothing had happened. “Those kids
of yours,” Taylor told the two
fathers, “ought to teach you both a
lesson.”

TAYLOR’S FAMILY

Lou is the first to admit that he’s
learned a lot from his own family.
He’d always thought of himself as
fairly energetic until he saw first his
wife and now his two daughters in
action.

Mildred Taylor in addition to be-
ing a warm mother and efficient
home maker, has found time to be-
come one of the most 2ctive colored
women in New Jersey. Besides her
playground and recreational work
and leadership of the PTA, she is
a vice-president of the New Jersey
State Federation of Colored Women;
acting advisor to the Roselle Com-
munity Council (an affiliate of the
Urban League of Eastern Union

(Continued on page 286)

343

THE REV. MR. H. H. COLLINS, pastor of St. Paul’s CME Mission in Bakers-
field, California, made history in April, 1953, when he was elected to the Bakers-
field city council. He is the first Negro to be elected to a city council in California.

THE CRISIS

was the
man fo
of Bake
Thre
were in
tion. ©
was eli
cessitati
Rev. N
St. Pau
Shurley
council
In tl
14, 195
by a wi
tion wa
it is the
elevate:
man in
secondl
due la
awaken
group,
ment
first we

JUNE-JU

Bakersfield

Makes History

F interest to Negro Citizens
everywhere, and particularly
to those living in California,

was the recent election of a council-
man for the first ward in the City
of Bakersfield.
| Three candidates, one a Negro,
| '| were in the race in the primary elec-
tion. One of the three candidates
was eliminated in the first race, ne-
cessitating a run off between the
Rev. Mr. H. H. Collin’s, pastor of
St. Paul’s CME Mission, and a Mr.
Shurley, a Southern Pacific employee,
councilman for the past four years.
In the run off election of April
14, 1953, the Rev. Mr, Collins won
by a wide margin of votes. This elec-
tion was especially gratifying because
it is the first time a Negro has been
elevated to the position of council-
man in any city in California; and
secondly because his election was
due largely to the efforts of an
awakened electorate in the Negro
group, which makes up a large seg-
ment of the constituency in the
first ward.

JUNE-JULY, 1953

A notable feature of the closing
hours of the campaign was the “Car-
avan Parade” led by candidate Col-
lins and Mrs. Collins, and C. R.
Smith, campaign manager, followed
by a fleet of cars bearing “Win With
Collins” banners and filled with en-
thusiastic boosters. The parade tra-
versed the principal streets of the
first ward.

The Rev. Mr. Collins came to
Bakersfield about four years ago
from the pastorate of St. Philip’s
CME church, San Diego. From the
beginning he made himself known
and felt by taking an active interest
in the P. T. A. groups and civic
programs. He has active member-
ship in the Greater Bakerfield Min-
isterial Association, the Family Serv-
ice Agencies, is a member of the
executive board of the YMCA, and
for the past four years has served
as president of the Bakersfield branch
of the NAACP. Through his efforts
the branch has been fully reactivated.

Mary L. COLLINS

® A Spanish historian weighs the problems of

obsolescent colonialism

As Africa Comes
Of Age’

By Salvador de Madariaga

WAS walking along one of the

old streets of Oxford, in that

old-world atmosphere which
oozes from the stones of its vener-
able colleges. Two men were walk-
ing behind me. Their voices were a
joy to hear. Centuries of refiinement
and culture—thought I, as I heard
the music without listening to the
conversation — had gone into the
mellowing of those two voices, the
modulation of their undertones, the
intellectual courtesy, aptness and
grace of expression. “That,” I mused,
looking at the old stone of the col-
lege facade, “that explains this’ ’—
and I listened again.
* eprinted by permission from the June 8,

R
1953, issue of The New Leader, New York
City

SALVADOR DE MADARIAGA, who
has been at various times an official of
the League of Nations, Spanish ambas-
sador to the United States, and pro-
fessor of Spanish studies at Oxford, is
one of Spain’s best known writers in
the fields of history, biography, interna-
tional relations, and literary criticism.

346

I began to imagine them and to
try to build them up from their
voices, as Cuvier had built up the
fossil animal out of a leg-bone. The
one with the thicker voice was sure
to be tall, lanky, flaxen-haired and
blue-eyed; the other, with a higher-
pitched voice, was almost certainly
stocky, short-necked and high chest-
ed, and probably had that rich au-
burn hair one often meets with in
Scotland. I was still painting their
portraits on the canvas of my mind
when they passed me. They were
Negroes,

Great Britain has been swift in
correcting her past indifference to
the education of the blacks. Colored
men from the West Indies and in
African colonies are now a familiar
sight in all her universities. The
president of the Oxford Union, a
while ago, was a West Indian Negro.
The number of Africans who are
graduated every year from British
universities is high and is increasing.
This trend is one of the major fac-
tors in the evolution of Africa.

The second half of the twentieth

THE CRISIS

———e

CONE

centur
as the
of age
when |
jects ¢
subject
should
as to
thing

Africa
agreed
of the
learn,

helptu
ward s
to ma
soon a
animis
(not n
life.

Thi:
it be a
dom o
by its
events
their «
makin:
men u
for th
white
more :

The
traffic
agricul
are nc
past. |
strides
the lot
whites
them »
affairs.
Africa
proble
forces

JUNE-JL

to |

~ IT

he
ire
nd
te
ily

ie

in
eir
nd

-re

century may well go down in history
as the epoch of the Negro’s coming
of age; that is to say, the period
when the Negroes, till then mere ob-
jects of history, begin to count as
subjects of history as well. No one
should entertain the slightest doubt
as to their capacity. If there is one

thing about which chroniclers of
African and American affairs are

agreed, it is the admirable qualities
of the Negro. Intelligent, quick to
learn, active, cheerful, charitable and
helpful toward each other and to-
ward strangers, the Negroes are sure
to make their mark in history as
soon as they emerge from the magic-
animist stage into a more rational
(not necessarily rationalist) form of
life.

THORNY PROBLEMS

[his process has begun. But will
it be allowed to develop in the free-
dom of nature, as an evolution ruled
by its own inner laws? It looks as if
events and circumstances outside
their own inherent life will go on
making of the Negroes a family of
men used by other human families
for their own purposes. Our own
white branch of mankind has been
more at fault here than any other.

The horrors of slavery, from the
traffic in slaves to their use as mere
agricultural animals or instruments,
are now fortunately a thing of the
past. In a number of cases, immense
strides have been made to improve
the lot of the Negroes ruled by the
whites, and even to hand back to
them the government of their own
affairs. But, in the evolution that
Africa is undergoing, many a thorny
problem is raised, not merely by

forces external and even indifferent

JUNE-JULY, 1953

AFRICA — the
with her.

world must reckon

to the welfare of the Negroes them-
selves, but also by those very forces
which are endeavoring to help them
toward self-government and freedom.

The more obvious of these prob-
lems, and that which attracts most
of the attention, is the danger of
Communist conversion. Sensational
cases, such as that of the American
Negro singer Paul Robeson, lend
color and plausibility to this fear.
But the possibility of a Communist
Africa would appear to be subordi-
nate to at least two other sets of
facts: One is the course of the gen-
eral struggle between Moscow and
the free world; the other is the great-
er or lesser success of the white
powers in handling the situation in
Africa on its own merits and quite
apart from the Communist danger.
If Western ideas prevail in Europe,
and if, in particular, the Eastern
Europeans are freed from their en-
thralment to Moscow, the danger of

347

Communism in Africa will diminish
enormously. If the process of organ-
izing self-government and freedom
in Africa is thwarted by ill will, in-
competence or both, the menace of
Communism will become very great.

We are thus thrown back on the
evolution toward self-government it-
self, which is encountering a number
of considerable obstacles. One of
them is the feeling, which is bound
to increase, that the whites take too
much land and wealth for their serv-
ices to the Africans. A fair revision
of the land problem so as to return
as much land as possible to the na-
tives, and a general policy that will
enhance the prestige of the whites
as organizers and civilizers, rather
than as businessmen, would appear
to be indispensable.

LACK OF MEN

obstacle will
Despite the

But here another
emerge: lack of men.

effort being made by all the Euro-
pean nations with African responsi-
bilities, it is doubtful whether Africa
has had the time to develop enough
competent men to take charge of
public affairs. Whether in the field

of politics, economics, culture or
health, the Africans will have to
show patience and the Europeans
to prove by their deeds that they are
sincere in their intention to hand
over power to the Africans pari passu
with the latter’s growth.

There are signs that some Euro-
pean nations might err in Africa
through an excess of good intentions.
Doubts may be expressed, for in-

stance, over the wisdom of organiz-
ing Negro states along Western par-
liamentary lines, a process already
under way in several British Crown
colonies.
cannot be transferred from one part
of the British Empire to another
without serious risks of failure. An
African Negro wearing a wig like
the Speaker of the House of Com-
mons symbolizes the well-meaning
but artificial, indeed slightly ridicu-
lous, aspect of this scheme.

A true democratic approach to the
problem would have been the devel-
opment of existing Negro institutions
from the village to the nation, with
the forms filled in and shaped by
the Africans themselves. This is no
new idea in the British Empire, where
the colonial service understands the
importance of being guided by good
anthropologists; but it may be that
shallow political considerations stand
in the way of the more reasonable
solutions. Then there is also the
urgency of sudden situations which
must be met.

Such is the background to the
problems that beset the nations en-
gaged in Africa, particularly Great
Britain. The situation in Kenya, the
problem of federation in Rhodesia,
the tension in the Union of South
Africa—these are three aspects of
one and the same historical trend.
The Negro is coming of age. How
is he to be received by his “elders”
in the house? Before they answer,
the “elders” must bear in mind that
the newcomer is vigorous and capa-
ble of attaining a great future.

C2o~

THE CRISIS

A system of government |

THES
Pictu
ville,
from

the L

THESE ARE some of the people who do the grass-roots work of the NAACP.

Pictured here are the twenty-two members of the executive board of the Amity-

ville, New York, branch with executive secretary, Walter White (standing, fifth

from right). BOTTOM: The Serdonyx Club of Detroit, Michigan, which helped

the Detroit branch by reporting 54 memberships and sponsoring a party for
benefit of the branch.

JUNE-JULY, 1953

JIM CROW COCA COLA MACHINE

‘“EEING is believing. This jim-crow Coca Cola vending machine is used
\/ in some southern communities. Although coins are inserted in different
slots tagged “Colored” and “White,” respectively, the bottle of Cocoa Cola
apparently is received at the same “Open Door.” There also seems to be no
separate “Coin Return” and “Bottle Opener.” Here is a good illustration of
the real purpose of southern segregation—to humiliate and stigmatize
Negroes! This machine does not keep the races apart, but it does serve to
remind Negroes of their subordinate position in southern life. A similar
distinction is often made with public drinking fountains in some southern ; pp
communities where the same fountain will have two outlets marked “White” check

and “Colored.” meml
ville
from
make
given

CK oG™_? to Dj

THE CRISIS

DR. HENRY ALLEN BOYD (left) of Nashville, Tennessee, presents a $500
check for NAACP life membership to Mrs. Lettie Galloway, director of the 1953
membership campaign for the Nashville area. M. W. Day, president of the Nash-
ville branch, looks on approvingly. BOTTOM: Mrs. Josephine Brown (second
from left), chairman of the NAACP committee at Vine Memorial Baptist church,
makes initial payment on a life membership in the NAACP which the church has
given its pastor, the Rev. Mr. Leonard Carr. Others witnessing the presentation
to Dr. Harry Greene, president of the Philadelphia branch, are (left to right)
Jacob Thompson, the Rev. Mr. Carr, and Mrs. Bette Smith-Marshall.

JUNE-JULY, 1953

®@ Sketches of two Argentine personalities
who became legends in their own time

Argentine

Diptych —

Meliton and Schimu

By Irene Diggs

O, perhaps, in the beginning
Africans and their descend-

ants in Argentina’ and
Uruguay were not gauchos. How

could one be a slave-gaucho in the
midst of the pampa with its hundred
and one invitations to be free? Could
a real gaucho carry the same brand-
ing as his beast of burden? As late as
1825 in the inventory of thirty-three

slaves living on the estancias of
Juan Manual de Rosas were four
branded black bozales: Antonio

Rosas branded with a ring in the
middle of the forehead; another with
a Y on his left arm; Manuel Rosas
with long crossed lines on both arms
and his chest and Antuco Rosas with
seven lines on his right cheek and
eight lines, up and down, on the left.
From early colonial times in the Rio
de la Plata the African was engaged
in various tasks connected with rural
life. Some seemed especially gifted in

DR. IRENE DIGGS, a frequent Crisis
contributor, teaches anthropology at

Morgan State College, Baltimore, Mary-
land.

352

the raising of cattle, lassoing, killing
and dressing, breaking-in, branding,
singing and guitar playing.

Slaves in rebellion ran away from
colonial centers of population to par-
ticipate in the nomadic life of the
gaucho of the pampa. In time Afri-
cans became gauchos. Their descen-
dents were black gauchos with all the
cultural characteristics of gauchos:
they were friends of the dawn and
the solitary trees, lovers of the violent
southwest wind; they were “control-
led” by the moon which brought
rain; above all they were connois-
seurs of maté. They possessed that
sensitivity which makes it possible
for the gaucho to communicate and
commune with nature—nothing was
inert and mute.

As all gauchos they had fear of
the darkness, the lights and shadows,
souls in pain—a oneness with nature
and mystery which provided them
with poetry and song with which to
enliven the fireside and the general
store. It is not purely coincidental
that along side of the white tall-tale-

THE CRISIS

a omnia —

tellers.
player
of the
the bl
Fierro
gauche

The
born %
domin
well d
best
horses
favorit
by all,
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and hi
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There

Mel
was a
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becaus

JUNE-JU

tellers, the troubadours and guitar
players in the legend and literature
of the Rio de la Plata one finds
the black counterpart. With Martin
Fierro, the Moreno boasts of his
gaucho freedom:

But I live free

I do not depend on anyone

Like a bird without a net.

Always I fly through the air

BLACK GAUCHO

There was Meliton, a slave-gaucho,
born and reared in El Ombi, who
dominated all the other gauchos, was
well dressed and gadded about in the
best duds of his owner and had
horses of his own. Melit6n was a
favorite of Don Santos, he was loved
by all, even those who had to execute
his orders, for his goodness of heart
and his temperament; he was always
gay and loving. No matter what any-
one did, Melit6n could do it better.
There was no one like Meliton.

Melit6n was faithful. Meliton
was a lover of freedom. Melitén
longed to be free. There was a
law that the slave who presented
the price of his liberty to his posses-
sor should be freed. One day Meliton
approached Don Santos: "Look,
Patron, here is the price of my free-
dom, take it, count it, see that it is
correct.” Don Santos did not under-
stand the subtle distinction when
Meliton pleaded: “But let me stay in
the El Ombiui and serve you hence-
forth without pay because from now
on I shall not be a slave.” Instead
Don Santos Ugarte was indignant.
Was not Don Santos a patriarchal
master proud of his kindliness and
generosity? Did he not tell his slaves:
“You are my children, you serve me
because you love me and not because

JUNE-JULY, 1953

you are slaves and if this minute I
should offer any one of you your
freedom, you would not accept?” The
desire of Melit6n to be free seemed
abusive ingratitude to him. “So this
is why you were saving the money
I gave you to spend and enjoy your-
self. So this is why you were saving
the money you received from the sale
of the animals I gave you. You saved
for your freedom? Ingrate! You have
a heart blacker than your skin. Take
your money, get out and never cross
my path again Meliton if you wish
to live many years ”

Gaucho Meliton departed on his
horse “sobbing like a child” and
bleeding from the injury of his own
gold and silver hurled at his head.
At Sur de Dolores (South of Sorrow)
he was free. He bought and sold cat-
tle for two years but always was tor-
mented by the thought of having
been “unfaithful” to his Patron who
had treated him as a father treats his
son. Above all he desired to be par-
doned. He could suffer no longer,
now perhaps Don Santos was not
angry. He returned to El Ombu. Don
Santos came out of the house smil-
Boece

“You have returned even though
I warned you not to. . . .”’ Stretching
forth his hand, Melit6n, thinking he
had been pardoned, extended his.
Don Santos grasped it so tightly Meli-
ton yelled with pain and blinded by
his tears did not see that Don Santos
had a large blunderbuss in his left
hand. Gaucho Meliton was buried in
“el composanto’e Chascomis.”

Don Santos fied to Buenos Aires
and later was in Montevideo. It was
his daily custom to spend hours be-
side the sea. One day as the tide
came in, Don Santos, with his face

353

toward Buenos Aires, did not move.
The water began to cover him but
not his sorrow which was as fresh as
the day he had killed poor Meliton
whom he loved as one loves his son.

SCHIMU NEGRO

One of the picturesque figures in
the history of Argentine governors is
that of Captain Simon Luna, popular-
ly known as Schimu Negro, During
the 1830's, revolution violently
snatched governors from their seats
in Santiago del Estero. A small
skirmish or the simple show of troops
might result in a new administration.
A circumstantial encounter between
two enemy parties might be sufficient
to jeopardize a governor’s position.

The party to which Simon Luna
belonged defeated that of the party
in power in Los Flores. Governor

Gama, subsittute for Colonel Dehesa,
abandoned Santiago. Schimu Negro
was provisionary governor from the

fifteenth to the seventeenth of April
1831. But before his successor took
office Schimu Negro had sold his
office and retired from the Govern-
ment House. According to the story
as related in Historia de los Gober-
nadores, by Antonio Zinny, a resi-

dent, Don Santiago de Palacio, in
whose service Schimu Negro had
been, attempted to rescue the office
of governor in order that it might
“not be degraded in the hands of a
person of such low estate, not be-
cause of his color, but because of
his background and ‘loose’ living.”
He decryed Schimu Negro’s intru-
sion. He advised him to return to his
usual work as cattle driver and
goader in bullfights. To encourage
him, he offered Schimu Negro five
thousand pesos.

The figure meant nothing to
Schimu. Calculating the importance
of abandoning his post he answered,
“You are wrong, Patron, if you be-
lieve that for this sum I should be
willing to give up my office. I warn
you that if you do not give me fifty
pesos there will be a revolution. .. .”
Santiago de Palacio feigned surprise
at the reasoning of the provisionary
governor, took out his roll and
counted out fifty pesos. “Here is what
you demand.”

Thus an Argentine governorship
was sold for fifty pesos, all of which
is said to have been spent for drinks
for himself and his friends in the
nearby general store (pulperia).

ee

CERTIFICATE OF
administrator, by John T

retary, looks on. The award

tarian contributions to mankind.

AWARD is prese nted to Roy
Hall (right), as
was pre sented by
Ange les Postal Employees Committee in recognition of Vr.

BOTTOM:

Wilkins (center), NAACP
NAACP executive sec-
Hall on behalf of the Los
Wilkins’ “humani-
Mrs. Rosa C. Brown, who has been

Walter White
Mr.

an active NAACP worker for more than 30 years, is presented an NAACP life

Boston,
president,

membership by the

Massachusetts,
is making the presentation

branch. Lionel O. Lindsay, branch

THE CRISIS

o
wo
a
pa

JUNE-JULY,

Editorials

SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

N June the United States Supreme Court handed down two very encour-

aging decisions which will help the Negro in his fight against segregation
and bigotry. While these pronouncements do not declare that segregation as
such is unconstitutional, they do whittle away at the theory and practice in
two specified areas. The first ruling says that it is illegal not to serve Negroes
in public eating places in Washington. What the court did, by a vote of 8 to
0, was to declare that the statute of 1873 which made it a criminal act for
any cafe or restaurant to refuse service to a person solely because of his
race or color is still in effect.

Washington practice has been for downtown restaurants to refuse
Negroes service, although certain lunch counters in drug stores, delicatessens,
and “dime” stores would serve Negroes in a standing position, From now on
black and white Washingtonians can down their Martinis, wolf their hot
dogs, and munch their hamburgers together in racial harmony. No incidents
have been reported as result of the decision and it is unlikely that Congress
will pass a law upsetting the court’s decision. It is too great a political risk.

The second decision bars suits for damages when signers of racial
restrictive covenants violate their contracts by selling their residential prop-
erty to non-whites.

The case arose when Leola Jackson of Los Angeles, California, who
had entered into a restrictive covenant On residential property in her neigh-
borhood later sold to Negroes. Three neighbors sued her for damages on the
ground that permitting Negroes to occupy the property lowered neighbor-
hood real estate values.

The constitutional question was whether a suit for damages in a state
court would constitute state action under the Fourteenth Amendment to
enforce such a covenant. Since the Supreme Court had already held in 1948
that voluntary racial restrictive covenants were legal, though not enforceable
in court, this latest decision is really an extension of the 1948 ruling.

This decision apparently puts an end to the last legal prop for the
covenant. Heretofore aggrieved parties have relied on damage suits to keep
the weak-kneed in line, but now that the Supreme Court disallows such suits
the racial restrictive covenantors will have to think up a new “gimmick,” and
anything they think up can be nothing more than a farcical expedient. For
the day is not far off when the Negro is going to live freely wherever his
money will permit him to buy or rent.

SCHOOL CASES
UST what the Supreme Court has in mind in its order for re-argument
of the five public school cases in October is privy only to the justices.
However, many lawyers are of the opinion that the court is ready to rule
against segregation but wants to be assured that “de-segregation” will take

356

THE CRISIS

place ir
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JUNE-JU

— ww ®*

place in such an affably accommodating manner as not to stir up the southern
Yahoos and Dixiecrats.

The Crisis does not expect any racial outbreaks if the court outlaws the
segregated public school. Governors Herman Talmadge and James F, Byrnes
with their appeal to the mob do not speak for the South. Similar predictions
were made when Heman Sweatt was admitted to the law schoo] of the Uni-
versity of Texas. Similar threats were made when Negroes were first admitted
to southern graduate and professional schools. It was even predicted that
teacher-salary equalization would strain race relations. Experience has shown
that such protesting prophecies are foolish, insincere, and absurd. For the
American people have such high respect for the United States Supreme
Court that they are willing to accept its interpretation of the Constitution.
The Crisis hopes that the court will squarely face the issue and declare the
segregated public school unconstitutional.

ADAM CLAYTON POWELL, SR.

R. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr., died in New York City on June 12, 1953,

at the age of 88. He was pastor emeritus of the Abyssinian Baptist
Church, which he had served as pastor from 1908 to 1937. Dr. Powell made
of the Abyssinian Church one of the most useful and effective religious-social
institutions in New York City. Both the church and the community had in
Dr. Powell a leader of vigorous intellect and personality, He was a man
whose life and thought were manifestly Christian in essence, attitude, and
performance. The Crisis mourns the loss of this distinguished churchman
and leader.

BOOK BURNING

HE ostensible reason given by the State Department for the removal of

books from United States Overseas Libraries is political. The government
cannot afford to place its imprimatur (with use of the taxpayer’s money)
on books authored by Communists, fellow travellers, or writers who invoke
the Fifth Amendment when questioned about their Communist ties. When
the various U. S. Information Services began carrying out the order, they
fell into the same sort of muddling that has characterized book burners and
censors ever since the printing of books.

Whittaker Chambers’ Witness is removed from the Abraham Lincoln
library in Buenos Aires; Benjamin Stern’s strictly technical American Med-
ical Practice is given the heave ho in Madrid; likewise Langston Hughes’
story of small-town life, Not Without Laughter, and Walter White’s study of
jim crow in the American Army, A Rising Wind, have been placed on the
verboten list. All this is ridiculous It is contrary to the American tradition
of the free circulation of ideas, even heretical ideas, and smacks of dictator-
ship. Banning books has never worked. In France in 1610 it was a capital
crime just to mention books used by the Jesuits, but the net result was to
advertise and increase the sale of these very books, Let us Americans leave
book burning and book banning to the tyrants and the totalitarians.

JUNE-JULY, 1953 357

PLANNING the annual membership drive of the Duluth, Minnesota, branch are

(from left) the Rev. Mr. C. S. Jones, vice-president; George Dozier, president;

Mrs. Dozier, treasurer; and R. J. Simmons, secretary. BOTTOM: Dr. J. W. Bur-

roughs, (right), pastor of the Grant Memorial AME church, Jacksonville, Florida,

accepts chairmanship of membership campaign of the local branch and poses with

(from left) Charles Vaught, branch president; and Gertrude Gorman and Robert
Saunders, NAACP assistant field secretaries.

358 THE CRISIS

I

ee
CO}
gration
a study
of the
membe:
labor t
religion
ticut, |
Stetler,
Resear
mission
We q
from th
Data
of inter
and w as
dustrial
vealed a
respect |
group |
ploymen
most det
There
ploymen
compani
compani
the othe
which pi
unskilled
Negroes
collar jc
complair
and proc
any of t
discrimir
color. W
it is pos

JUNE-JUL’

| Looking and Listening...

NEGRO EMPLOYMENT
eves CRISIS has just received a

copy of Minority Group Inte-
gration by Labor and Management,
a study of the employment practices
of the larger employers, and the
membership practices of the larger
labor unions with respect to
religion and national origin, Connec-
ticut, 1951, prepared by Henry G.
Stetler, supervisor of the Division of
Research, for the Connecticut Com-
mission on Civil Rights.

race,

We quote the following paragraphs
from the “Conclusions”:

Data gathered through the medium
of interviews with employers, unions,
and wage-earners, in the principal in-
dustrial Connecticut have re-
vealed a wide variety of practices with
respect to the employment of minority

areas of

‘
group persons—particularly the em-
ployment of Negroes for whom the

most detailed data were available.

There is a wide variation in the em-
ployment of y the larger
companies. Apart from a tenth of the
companies which employ no Negroes,

¥ the other 90 percent range from those
which provide employment only on the
unskilled level, to those which integrate
Negroes on all levels including white
collar jobs. In the absence of specific
complaints with follow-up investigation
and proof, it is impossible to categorize
any of these employers as engaging in
discrimination on the basis of races and
color. We make this statement because
it is possible for the employer to de-

Negroes by

JUNE-JULY, 1953

fend the non-employment of Negroes,
either in toto or with respect to the
Various occupational levels, on grounds
of ‘no applications’ or ‘insufficient skills
or training.” And even though there
may have been applications, and Ne-
groes with skills had applied, other,
more intangible factors such as preju-
dice on the part of management, super-

visors, Or employees may have pre-
vented hiring or promotion. Whether
any of these are operative requires

proof in specific situations.

There are, howeve. certain situations
revealed by our analysis which cannot
be explained away as readily. One of
these is the low rate of employment of
Negro clerical workers in the larger
manufacturing industries. In the Bridge-
port area no Negro women were em-
ployed at clerical jobs, and in other
areas their employment at such jobs
was decidedly limited outside of the non-
manufacturing employers in the Hart-
fort area, It would seem that in this
occupational group there is either de-
liberate or unconscious discrimination
against the employment of Negro
women.

Also, in supervisory and professional
jobs, the few positions of this type
afforded to Negroes would seem to in-
dicate underemployment despite the
limited potentialities inherent in the
Negro group for these types of jobs
as indicated by the educational achieve-
ments of the Negro group on the whole.
The considerably higher percentage of
Negro supervisory «and _ professional
workers employed by the State of Con-
necticut seems to indicate that more
trained Negroes are available than are

359

given opportunitics by the larger private
employers. ...

With respect to labor unions, all the
evidence indicates that Negroes can
secure membership in the unskilled
unions (A. F. of L.) and the industrial
type unions (C.I.O. and A. F. of L.).
Their membership is very limited in the
A. F. of L. craft unions. . . . When so
few Negroes are admitted as apprentices
or journeymen to an entire category of
unions (such as the A. F. of L. craft
unions) the problem would seem to
merit continuing examination in order
to determine whether qualifications or
racial prejudice is the determining
factor in admitting members... .

YOUNGSTOWN FEPC

HE City Council of Youngs-
town, Ohio, passed a Fair Em-
ployment Practice Ordinance in June,
1950, making it unlawful for em-
ployers, labor unions, or employment
agencies in Youngstown to discrim-
inate against anyone in hiring, pro-
moting, admitting to membership or
referring for employment because of
his race, religion, or nationality. In
October, 1950, the ordinance was
amended to create a Fair Employ-
ment Practice Committee to admin-
ister, enforce, and educate about the
law and its principle of equal oppor-
tunity for employment on merit.
The annual report of the Commit-
tee (April 1, 1952—April 1, 1953)
offers interesting information:
During the period April 8, 1952 to
March 31, 1953, the FEPC received 25
signed and notarized complaints by ag-
grieved persons of violation of the Fair
Employment Practice Ordinance. The
Committee initiated 3 complaints and
succeeded in getting all three violations
to cease. Nineteen of these 28 com-
plaints have been investigated and acted

360

upon by the Committee. Eight of these
were dismissed for lack of probable
cause that the FEP Ordinance was
violated as charged; 3 were dismissed
for lack of jurisdiction under the FEP
Ordinance. In 8 of them violation of
the letter and spirit of the FEP law
was found. Through the process of con-
ference and conciliation all of these
violations ceased. The remaining 9 are
still in the process of being investigated
and adjusted. Those complained against
included employers, labor unions and
employment agencies. The basis of the
complaints included race, religion and
nationality. Among the consequences of
these investigations were the following:

A bus company hired its first Negro
drivers in its 34 years of operation in
Youngstown and among its work-force
of 245 drivers. As of March 31, 1953,
there were 29 Negroes who had com-
pleted their driver's training and 7 more
in training. These drivers have been
accepted by the local bus driver's
union as full-fledged members.

One of the 3 largest steel companies
in Youngstown filled a clerical position
with a Negro, probably the. first Negro
in that capacity in that company’s
history.

An employer began his first Negro
in sales-clerk work. An employment
agency ceased classifying and referring
registrants on the basis of race. Three
licensed employment agencies that had
unlawful inquiries on their registration
blanks crossed these out from all their
present stock of blanks and all their
active file of filled-out blanks.

A credit bureau ceased giving em-
ployers information as to the ‘racial

extraction’ of applicants, numbering
about 1000 a year.
An employer of many employees

corrected an employment practice that
permitted discrimination in the issuing
of application-for-employment blanks.
An employer crossed out ‘nationality’
from all his unused supply of applica-
tion-for-employment blanks.

THE CRISIS

The F
only ca
pertinent
essary. .

OPP.

WE
inc!
Opportt
| the Joh
New Y
| fellowsk
for trai
000. T
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promise
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make 1
society.
Amo
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Indians
placed
} resident
The gr:
| $3,000,
to stud
cluding
anthroy
ences.
| The
Campb
] York C
| kegee,
ville, 17
Ga.; D
Albert
| Israel |
Haynes
{ Hemac
James .
Labat,

JUNE-JU

©

————

The FEPC demonstrated that it not
only can but will subpoena records
pertinent to an investigation when nec-
€S6ALY. «. «

OPPORTUNITY FELLOWSHIPS

WENTY-THREE Negroes are

included among the fifty-two
Opportunity Fellowship recipients of
the John Hay Whitney Foundation,
New York City, for 1953-54. The
fellowship winners will receive grants
for training and study totaling $100,-
000. These awards are made to
American citizens of exceptional
promise who, because of arbitrary
barriers such as race, cultural back-
ground or region or residence, have
not had the opportunity to develop
to the fullest extent their abilities to
make their richest contribution to
society.

Among this year’s fellows are Ne-
groes, Spanish-Americans, American
Indians, Japanese-Americans, Dis-
placed Persons, Puerto Ricans, and

} residents of United States territories.

The grants, ranging from $1,000 to

| $3,000, will aid this year’s winners

SL —$——

(

to study in 26 different fields, in-
cluding medicine, law, art, music,
anthropology, literature, and the sci-
ences.

The Negro fellows are Betty Allen,
Campbell, Ohio; Thomas Blair, New

' York City; Mrs. Letitia Brown, Tus-

kegee, Alabama; Paul Brown, Knox-
ville, Tenn.; Edgar Clark, Atlanta,
Ga.; Dorothy Ellison, Atlanta, Ga.;
Albert Garner, Washington, D. C.;
Israel Glover, Oxford, N. C.; Ulric
Haynes, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Neal
Hemachandra, St. Albans, N. Y.:
James Jones, Little Rock, Ark.; Alvin
Labat, Washington, D. C.; Antonia

JUNE-JULY, 1953

Pantoja, San Juan, Puerto Rico;
Mary Robbs, Chattanooga, Tenn.;
Ramon Rosario, New York City;
Dr. Claudius Shropshire, Travis Air
Force Base Hospital; Elliott Skinner,
British West Indies; Edgar Toppin,
New York City; John DeJongh, Vir-
gin Islands; James Emanuel, Alli-
ance, Nebraska; George Jones, Or-
angeburg, N. Y.; Gus Ridgel, Poplar
Bluff, Mo.; and Joseph Stewart,
New York City.

NEGRO BASE BALL PLAYERS

C. REDD of the South Car-
* olina Conference of NAACP
branches sends us two _ interesting
clippings on the use of Negro base-
ball players in the South Atlantic
League, known locally as “Sally.”
We excerpt a few paragraphs from
Del Booth’s column, which appeared
under the headline “Major Reaction
to Negroes in Sally is Financial
Here.” :

The major reaction to the initial
South Atlantic league appearance of
Negro baseball players here {[Columbia,
S. C., in April] last night was financial.

One thousand Negroes paid 65 cents
or $1 each, depending upon whether
they sat in the Negro stands of a sec-
tion of the grandstand set aside for
them. They watched three Negroes play
against Columbia for Jacksonville.
Usually about 100 Negroes turn out
for the Sally games here. . . . In fact,
the financial and other reactions were
so satisfactory, the Columbia team is
thinking of adding a Negro infielder to
its roster sometime this season. =
There was a lot of ‘go on back to the
cotton fields’ remarks and booing from
the stands but little of it seemed to
have any overtones of viciousness.

The crowd seemed to have accepted
the advent of Negro players in the solid

361

segregated South. Maybe reluctantly,
but accepted.

None of Columbia's three pitchers
in a 7-5 loss tried anything close to
a bean ball at the three Negroes. And
the Negroes won the game for Jackson-
ville—Second baseman Henry Aaron
and shortstop Felix Mantilla, a Cuban
Negro, with their fine fielding, plus the
hitting of outfielder Horace Garner.
Aaron and Garner each homered, the
second baseman batting in three runs
on the home run and two other hits,
Garner getting two on his homer.

The white crowd resent
slightly one phase of the big Negro
turnout—the Negro contigent was all
for the visiting team, and had no cheers
for the home club. That didn’t sit too
well—hometown fans like to recognize
good play on the part of visitors, but
they like to see their home team
strong support too

Reactions from the players on Co-
lumbia’s all-white team was restrained
There was some bench-jockeying of the

seemed to

get

Negroes, such as yells of ‘alligator
bait,” and so on, but it was milder in
tone than that accorded Jacksonville’s

white players. .. .

Van Newman in his column said
that individual reactions to the ap-
pearance in the “Sally” league was
varied. Generally, the younger fans
were tolerant; the older ones were
often dubious about the use of Ne-
groes; but Mr. Newman says that
“tolerance was expressed by consid-
arably more than intolerance.” “One
thing is certain,” he adds, “the Negro
ball player is here in this league now
—and he apparently is here to stay.”

The August and September numbers of THE CRISIS are combined |

in one issue, August-September, out September 1.

CURRENT MAGAZINES

HE following articles in current
magazine are of interest to Crisis
readers:
“What is Color?”
Brief, August, 1953.
If you can’t see the difference be-
tween “colored” and “white”—how
you tell?
“The United States Negro, 1953.”
Time, May 11, 1953.
Charts the that
occured in the life of the Negro during

Walter White.

do

revolution has

the last decade

“Africa: A continent in ferment.”
Life, May 4, 1953.

A special charting the
Africa on the world scene

issue emer-
gence of

“America and the Challenge of

Africa.” Saturday Review, May 2,
1953.
Special African number with articles

by Harold Isaacs, Alan Paton, Z. K. |
Matthews, and others. Indubitably the |
best of the many African numbers

issued recently by several magazines. |
“Notebook on Black Africa.” Eric |
Larrabee. Harper's, May, 1953.

Informal notes dealing with the Cam-
eroons, Nigeria, the Gold Coast, the
Ivory Coast, and Senegal by the asso-
ciate editor of Harper's. Very informa-
tive.

“The Afterglow of Empire: Note-
book on Black Africa, Part II.” Eric
Larrabee. Harper's, June, 1953.

Discuesses the trend toward self-
determination in West Africa and the
ferment of nationalism in other parts
of the continent

THE CRISIS

A

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Octobe!
followit

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at this |
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JUNE-JU!

Battlefront

COURTS

School Cases: On June 8 the United States Supreme Court failed to hand
down a decision in the Association cases involving constitutionality of racial
, | discrimination in public schools, but instead set them for re-argument on
~ October 12, 1953. The board of directors at its June 8 meeting adopted the
_» | following resolution concerning the Supreme court action:

We regret the inability of the Supreme Court to reach a favorable decision
at this time on the school segregation cases which have been pending since last
December. Answers relating to the vital issues raised in these cases will be supplied
to the specific questions posed by the Supreme Court on the re-argument of the
cases scheduled for October 12.
=: It is our conviction that questions of this type should be resolved in the

legal forum of the Supreme Court rather than through hysterical mob appeal by
les politicians such as Governors Herman Talmadge and James Byrnes. We urge the

K.| people of this country, both white and Negro, North and South, to follow the
the | example of the Supreme Court and to consider the question of the validity of
ers | racial segregation on the basis of the facts, the law and their moral responsibility
| rather than upon the irrational rantings and ravings of biased, diehard ‘white
ric | Supremacist’ demagogues.
The NAACP’s historic fight against segregation must and will be fully vindi-
ml cated. We are convinced that racial segregation is not only illegal; it is also
the immoral The NAAC P is further convinced that the American people are ready
so. | fF the total abolition of this archaic system of racial segregation. Moreover, the
om NAACP, its branches and its entire membership will never cease their efforts
toward this end no matter what the cost.
“i In a letter to branches, the national officers point out that the Associa-
_. | tion’s attack upon segregation in the public schools is a culmination of our
™ | 44-year effort to completely remove segregation and discrimination from
elf. « CVETY phase of American life. Many successes have been achieved along the

the | Way. but the fight has not yet been won. The temporary delay in the jim-crow
arts | Public school cases simply means that we must press even harder toward our
goal of complete victory.

‘“Jaybird Primary”: The right of Negroes to vote in the South has been
guaranteed by the U. S. Supreme Court in its decision outlawing the “Jay-
bird primary” in Texas. The decision, handed down on May 4, also rules
out all other schemes southern election officials might devise to prevent
Negroes from voting. It should end all such devices as the “white” primaries
and other clauses used to segregate or discriminate against colored voters,

JUNE-JULY, 1953

363

since
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MEMBERS of the Des Moines, lowa, branch who attended the 1953 membership y<
: er ts 1951,
campaign kick-off dinner on May 14. The branch expects to exceed its goal ;
of a thousand members before the close of its campaign. BOTTOM: The Kala- | Dy off

mazoo, Michigan, branch president, Frederick Lilly (left), presents award to| Mrs. D
representatives of Hopman Dutton Company for fair employment practices. before

D

youth
was sen

THE CRISIS} JUNE-JU

lip
val
la-
1o

SIS

since the Court has made it clear that any and all methods used to keep
qualified Negro voters from the polls is illegal and in violation of the 15th
Amendment.

By an 8-1 vote, the Court ruled that the Jaybird Democratic Associa-
tion, better known as the “jaybird party” in Ford Bend county, Texas, was a
political party whose express purpose was to prevent Negroes from voting
in the primaries, “the only election in the county that counted.” Since 1889
every candidate for office in Fort Bend county has been endorsed by the
Jaybird party.

The case was instituted early in 1952 by John Terry, Jessie Byers, R. E.
Pink, Jr., Charlie Roberts and Price Jackson on behalf of all the Negroes
in Fort Bend county. In May, 1952, the District Court ruled that Negroes
had the right to vote in the primaries. The Jaybirds took the case to the
Court of Appeals which reversed the lower court’s decision. An appeal from
this ruling was taken to the Supreme Court in behalf of the Texas Negro
voters by NAACP attorneys.

In an opinion read by Justice Hugo L. Black it was stated that the
qualifications prescribed by Texas permitting voters to vote at county-op-
erated primaries are the same as those “entitling electors to vote at the
county-wide Jaybird primaries with a single proviso—Negroes are excluded.”

The Jaybirds had denied that their racial exclusions violated the 15th
Amendment. They contended that the Amendment applies only to elections
or primaries held under state regulation and that their association was not
regulated by the state. While it was a political party, it was a self-governing
voluntary club.

The president of the Jaybirds, A. J. Adams, admitted to the court under
questioning that the party was designed to keep Negroes from voting in the
county primaries. All white voters in the county, upon paying the poll tax,
automatically become members of the Jaybirds.

New Trial: The 99-year prison term imposed upon 19-year-old John
Taft Roseburough of Brownwood, Texas, convicted for the alleged rape of a
white woman, was reversed in May by the Court of Criminal Appeals at Austin.

The decision was reversed on the grounds that the trial court, the
District Court of Brown county, erred in refusing to let Roseburough testify
concerning a 7-hour inquisition he was subjected to by a bondsman who
encouraged the boy to sign a “house-peeping” confession with the promise
of getting him out of trouble.

Roseburough was first arrested in San Angelo, Texas, December 19,
1951, on suspicion of “house-peeping.”’ He was held in jail four days before
any official charge was made against him. He was then charged with raping
Mrs. Dorothy Bartlett who testified that she had been attacked two months
before in her home by a Negro she could neither identify nor describe.

During the trial not one shred of evidence was produced to connect the
youth with the alleged crime, yet an all-white jury found him guilty and he
was sentenced to 99 years.

JUNE-JULY, 1953 365

NAACP attorneys appealed the conviction on two counts, the refusal of
the trial court to allow Roseburough to testify as to the conversation and the
promise of the bondsman, and the error in admitting the alleged confession.
They charged he was beaten, threatened and forced, while in custody of
officers of the law, into signing a confession without the advice of a lawyer.

In reversing the trial court’s decision, the Court of Criminal Appeals
did not rule on the admissibility of the confession.

NAACP lawyers are trying to get the youth released on bail while wait-
ing for a new trial. They have been advised that one of the witnesses vital to
his defense is now in Germany and it may take another year before he can
or will return to this country.

CONVENTION

Stassen Speaker: Harold E. Stassen, Mutual Security Administrator and
former Governor of Minnesota, addressed the closing session of the 44th
annual convention of the Association in St. Louis, June 23-28.

Mr. Stassen replaced Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam who was unable to
attend because of participation in the 250th anniversary of John Wesley,
founder of Methodism, in Philadelphia on the same day of the NAACP
meeting. “My regret is matched by my disappointment,” the Methodist pre-
late wired upon discovering the conflict in the date.

Sharing the platform with Mr. Stassen at the Sunday afternoon session
on June 28, was Walter White, NAACP executive secretary. Music at this
session was by the Mariners, popular and internationally famous quartet at
the Columbia Broadcasting System.

The keynote address was delivered at the opening night session on
Tuesday, June 23, by Dr. Channing H. Tobias, chairman of the Association’s
board of directors. Welcome addresses were delivered by Mayor Reymond
Tucker and Howard B. Woods, city editor, St. Louis Argus.

Others addressing the public evening meetings of the convention included
Patrick E. Gorman, secretary-treasurer of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters
and Butcher Workmen, AFL; Thurgood Marshall, NAACP special counsel;
Archibald Carey, Jr., member, City Council of Chicago; Senator W. Stuart
Symington; and Paul R. Williams, winner of the 38th Spingarn Medal,

Day session of the convention were devoted to internal organizational
business and to workshops on civil rights, the legal program, health, church
cooperation, labor relations, the legislative program, employment, housing,
and public relations.

MISCELLANEOUS

Baltimore: The Maryland State Commission of Forests and Parks has
been ordered by the United States District Court for the District of Mary-
land to cease its discriminatory practices against Negroes at the Sandy Point
Beach and Park, a state recreation area on the outskirts of Baltimore.

366

THE

CRISIS

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JUNE-J!

The decision was rendered by Federal Judge W. Calvin Chestnut in a
suit brought against the Maryland State Commission by the Baltimore branch
of the NAACP in behalf of eight Negroes who had been refused admission
to well-equipped South Beach. They had been turned away from the well-
kept beach and directed to nearby East Beach, a virtually unusable area
reserved exclusively for the use of Negroes.

The suit was filed with the District Court in July, 1952, by Milton
Lonesome, Marion J. Downs, Karleen Downs, Alvin Graham, Beatrice
Martin, Bowen Jackson, Christine Jackson and Lilly Mae Jackson, all of
Baltimore.

The State Commission argued that the two beaches were equal, but that
whatever inequalities there were would be corrected.

In rendering the decision, Judge Chestnut directed the State Commis-
sion to cease discrimination against Negro bathers. However, he said that
the Commission could either open the facilities to everybody or close them
to everybody, but there must be no further discrimination.

mn = GO
———

id
th

eee

1aS
7
int

LAWYER HERBERT SIMMONS explains to Mrs. Claudia Whitmore, key figure
in the segregation suit against the Southern Pacific Railroad, the ruling handed
down by Judge Lucius Green, Los Angeles, California, Municipal Court, outlawing
infamous “Car 20” on the Sunset Limited.

JUNE-JULY, 1953

What the Branches
Are Doing

Florida: The Florida STATE CON-
FERENCE for branches has set its
1953 theme as “Let’s Make it 10,000

in °53.” The quota is only a small part
of the total number of Negroes in
Florida, but it will require the rolling
up of sleeves and the help of every
person interested in better opportunities
for Negroes.

Iowa: Ike Smalls of the DES
MOINES branch was honored by more
than 300 friends, representing a variety
of races and creeds, at a testimonial
dinner at Beth El Jacob synagogue in
May.

Ike Smalls has gained national recog-
nition through his help of the poor and
sick and minority groups. Mr. Smalls
is an active member of the NAACP
and the donor of the annual Ike Small
Award to the branch with the highest
membership.

Massachusetts: Mrs. Rosa C. Brown
was presented a life membership in the
BOSTON branch in May. Mrs. Brown
has been an active worker in the branch
for over thirty years and has consistent-
ly led the field in the individual solici-
tation of memberships with an average
of over $300. Mrs. Brown’s name will
be placed on the life-membership tablet
in the national office in New York City.
The presentation to Mrs. Brown was
made by branch president Lionel Lind-
Say.

The branch chalks up another vic-
tory with the employment of Sanders
Wilborn, Jr., of Boston on the all-white

368

Pak 4

THIS YEAR Ike Smalls, who usually
turns in fifty or more NAACP mem-
bers every year, believes he has taken
in the youngest NAACP member in the
country in his granddaughter Stephanie
Dee Sandler. She was nine months old
on May 16. Mr. Smalls has been active
in NAACP work for many years.

waiting staff of the exclusive Meadows
Restaurant in Framingham. “This
marks the first time in Massachusetts,”
says Herbert Tucker, chairman of the
branch legal redress committee, “that
a major restaurant catering to a white
clientele has employed white and col-
ored waiters in the same dining room.”

The matter was brought to the at-
tention of the public last fall when Wil-
born had been refused employment al-

THE CRISIS

legedly
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mission
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JUNE-JU

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legedly because of his race. A complaint

was filed with the Massachusetts Com-

mission Against Discrimination. After
a series of conferences, the restaurant
accepted a finding of probable cause
by Commissioner Elwood McKenney,
which resulted in a series of concilia-
tion conferences. At the conclusion of
these conferences, the restaurant agreed
that it would abandon its former policy
of hiring and give Wilborn employ-
ment, on an equal basis with other
white waiters, at the first opportunity.
The negotiations were conducted by
Attorney Herbert Tucker.

Michigan: The membership drive of
the DETROIT branch went beyond its
goal of 7,500 members with a total of
8,272. Honored for top production in
the campaign were Area 10—Dr. and
Mrs. W. A. Thompson, and J. Alvoy
Jones, co-ordinators; Area 9—Mrs.
Irene Graves, co-ordinator; the Cotil-
lion Club, Elbert Mack, co-ordinator;
William Patrick, president; and Second
Baptist church with Mrs. L. W. Terrell
and Mrs. Mildred Croff, chairmen; and
Ford Local 600, which led the labor
group.

In its victory night celebration, the
branch also honored Cpl. Jesse Robert-
son, first Detroit prisoner of war from
Korea, who was presented with a plaque
and a Harry T. Moore Memorial mem-
bership in the Association by Dr. J.

J. McClendon in recognition of his
service in the Armed Forces.
Minnesota: The MINNEAPOLIS

branch discussed several important so-
cial and economic questions at its May
17 meeting held in the Phyllis Wheat-
ley House. Among them were jim-crow
unions, jim-crow labor contracts, and
methods to be used to assure Negro
children a fair chance at a good job.

Nebraska: The second Negro gradu-
ate of the Arkansas university law

school was guest speaker at a recent
mass meeting of the OMAHA branch.

JUNE-JULY, 1953

Attorney George Haley gave the main
address at the beginning of the mem-
bership kick-off meeting.

New Jersey: Seven members of the
METUCHEN branch wrote a letter in
March to the editor of The Metuchen
Recorder in protest against the minstrel
show put on by the American Legion
in that township. Excerpts from the
letter follow:

“All these shows have a grand tradi-
tion behind them. They can be excel-
lent fun as entertainment, as a means
of putting on local singing and dancing
talent, as a vehicle for good-natured
lampooning of local personalities. It is
unfortunate that one of the most im-
portant parts of the minstrel show con-
tinues to be the presentation of the ‘end
men’ as blackface comedians.

“The names, mannerisms and dia-
logue, and some of the jokes of the
blackface funnymen are not funny to
sensitive Negroes, whether they are pre-
sented on a local stage or on a national
radio network. They come down di-
rectly from the time Negroes were
slaves, when they were not considered
‘people’ or as having feelings worth
worrying about. They belong in a
period when the ‘jim-crow’ attitude gen-
erally was acceptable. . . . We would
like to point out to the good people
who plan and produce minstrel shows
that that period has gone by. .. . Do
we want to abolish all minstrel shows?
No. We would like to suggest altera-
tions in the traditional routine which
will do away with elements of preju-
dice. The blackface aspect might be
omitted while retaining the end men.
The end men might include enough
different comic ‘types, ranging from
Chinese to Texans to commuters to
people with ulcers, to make sure that
no one group remains the object of
stage wit... .”

The ELIZABETH branch sends the
following report on housing projects in
that community:

“The City of Elizabeth has two hous-
ing projects, Pioneer Homes, which
consists of 405 housing units, and
Mrvalag Manor, which has 423 hous-
ing units. The projects were constructed
about nine years ago under the Wagner-
Steagall Act, which provides for slum
clearance.

“Negroes have been allotted 72 segre-
gated housing units, and occupy the
number in Pioneer Homes. No
Negroes have been admitted to Mrvalag
Manor.

same

“When an applicant, white or Negro,
is accepted, he or she receives a letter
from the Housing Authority advising
the applicant that he or she has been
approved for an apartment, but that
there are no vacancies and that the ap-
plicant will be communicated with
when ‘an appropriate’ vacancy occurs.
We construe this to mean to Negroes:
“When there is a vacancy in one of the

segregated 72 housing units,” and to
whites: “When there is a vacancy in
Pioneer Homes or Mrvalag Manor

other than the 72 segregated units.’
“Suit has been instituted in the Chan-
cery Division of the Superior Court of
New Jersey by thirteen Negroes, seven
of whom letters from
the aforesaid Housing Authority stat-
ing that they have been approved, and
six representing hardship The
letters of acceptance have been photo

have received

cases.

stated and attached to the complaints
as exhibits.

the 72
Negroes,

“From segregated units al
lotted to oniy five families
have moved out in the past 15 months.
From Mrvalag Manor and the other
section of Pioneer Homes which are
not occupied by Negroes, 114 families
have moved out. Thus, only five fam-
ilies could be served in 15 months. The
Housing Authority is planning the con-
struction of another 250 unit project.

“The suit demands an_ injunctive
judgment and the relief demanded is
in seven paragraphs. :

370

New York: On the heels of a very
successful Negro history week program,
the AMITYVILLE branch gave a testi-
monial dinner in honor of its former
president, Major L. Braxton, and pre-
sented him with a gold watch. Guest
speakers were Walter White, of the
national office, and Louis Levine, field
representative of the CIO. The testi-
monial dinner launched a drive for
1,500 new members.

The newly elected officers announced
by the JAMAICA branch are as follows:

Florence Lucas, president; Dr. Judge

Thompson, first vice-president; Basie
McCain, second vice-president; David
Kelly, third vice-president; Joscelyn

Smith, secretary; Una Mulzas, assistant
secretary; and Hillary Thorne, treasurer,
Members of the executive board are
Samuel Allen, Lois Allen, Lawrence
Bailey, Slna Giradeau, Stanley Greene,
Jesse Henriques, Irving Karp, Stanley
Cunningham, Barbara Ellman, Charles
McKinney, Leonard Upperman, Ches-
ter Alston, Guy Brewer, Olivia Frost,
Grace Sevier, Jacob Smith, and Marion
Pinckney.

According to the NEW YORK CITY
branch the Princess Hotel in Hamilton,
Bermuda, recently acquired by Pan-
American Airways, will continue its
policy of refusing admission to Negroes

as guests,

Dr. James Allen, former New York
state president of NAACP branches,
wrote a letter on March 20, 1953, to

the executive offices of the airline in-
quiring as to its policy towards Negroes
in the hotel under its new
When Dr. Allen
with a Mr. Gentry,
the Intercontinental Hotel Corporation,
the operating subsidiary of Pan-Ameri-
can, he told that the
could not afford to defy the
of Bermuda. He said that they would
run the risk of financial loss if Negroes

were permitted to stay in the hotel.

management.
the
representative of

discussed matter

was company

customs

THE CRISIS

Nor
mittee
SHIP
for fu
state-si
lina.

Peni
| mittee
ing a
fund.
Flatley

, ‘
-, as

| Day” |
| its sch

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the ex
VILLE
of the
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have (
that th
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Paul
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South
and A
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JUNE-JL

ery
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ner
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North Carolina. The legislative com-
mittee of the STONY CREEK TOWN-
SHIP branch has started a campaign
for full integration of Negroes in the
state-supported schools of North Caro-
lina.

Pennsylvania: The educational com-
mittee of the ERIE branch is sponsor-
ing a Harry T. Burleigh scholarship
fund. Last December Mayor Thomas
Flatley proclaimed Tuesday, December
2, as “Harry T. Burleigh Memorial
Day” to help the branch in sponsoring
| its scholarship.

Tennessee: At a meeting of
| the executive committee of the NASH-
VILLE branch, after a careful
of the Paul Hockett and the James
Petre cases, and other sex crimes which
have occurred recently, it was voted
that the branch make public its feelings
in regard to the racially charged atmos-
phere created by the news slanting in
these cases.

recent

review

Paul Hockett, 12, was accused of
rape and although, according to law,

a child under fourteen is presumed in-
capable of committing a crime, Hockett
} was held for more than two months
/without bail. Then the daily papers
published Hockett’s picture and wrote
up the offense in such a manner as to

THE AMITYVILLE, N. Y., BRANCH
advertises with this billboard at the
South East corner of Sunrise Highway
and Albany Avenue in Amityville. It
an be seen by traffic moving in three

directions.

JUNE-JULY, 1953

create the impression that only Negroes
are sex Offenders. In the Petre case,
which involved a white, the papers tried
to give the impression that Petre was
innocent even though the girl spent two
weeks in the hospital.

The FARMVILLE branch
recently sponsored a unit queens con-
test to raise money. Total monies col-
lected by the queens totaled $593.92.
Prizes were awarded to the three top
contestants of each unit and a grand
prize was awarded to the county queen
by state secretary, Banks.

Virginia:

Lester

Youth Council News

Connecticut: The Yale university
chapter of the NAACP successfully
aided a Negro family to obtain new liv-
ing quarters in an apartment from
which they had been previously barred.

Joel Adier, chairman of the chapter
housing committee, reports that Edward
Noble, a

Negro Korean war veteran,
was denied consideration as a tenant
because, as the landlord claimed, “All

other residents are white and they would
not like

Blessed ot Which So bunger and thirst ier .
' for thes, shall be filles all

FITEEN HUNDRED FIFTEEN WUmORED
FORFUTY THREE TWAT S YOU
MEANS a » ME

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RF ersvensmeoe
y DRIVE

OUR GOAL cot am * ;
4 ~

1500 NEW
MEMBERS
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‘DP wie cetonds 0 Sune 30°

Richard Dyer, ’53, and Frank Poles-
tra, graduate students, interviewed
Noble and later proceeded to question
the residents of the community as to
whether or not they would resent hav-
ing a Negro family for neighbors. The
results of this inquiry, which revealed
no substantial objection to Negro fam-
ilies moving in, was presented to the
landlord with a recommendation for
reconsideration. The landlord accepted
the findings of the survey and rented
the apartment to Noble.

Florida: The Tampa youth council
has organized a soft ball team to fur-
nish recreation for the summer months.
According to secretary William Scott,
the boys will be completely uniformed
with “NAACP” initialed on their jer-
seys. They will compete in the recent-

ly organized league in Hillsborough
county.
Massachusetts: Herbert L. Wright,

NAACP youth secretary, speaking at
Radcliffe college before a meeting spon-
sored jointly by the Harvard and Rad-

cliffe chapters of the NAACP, charged
British Colonial Office troops in Kenya
with deliberately and wantonly killing
hundreds of innocent Africans under
the guise of rooting out Mau-Mau ter-
rorists in that country.

Mr. Wright added: “The British Col-
onial Office is tending to the symptoms
rather than the real causes of the
Kenya conflict.”

Meanwhile, he observed, decent peo-
ple throughout the world are sitting
idly by while the British government
commits this purge of real and imag-
ined political non-conformists to current
British policies in that East African
colony.

LET SILENT POWER
HELP YOU, TOO!

Worried about money, love, work, family
—any personal problem? Let Silent Power
help you! For FREE sealed information write
today to —

THE TRIANGLE SOCIETY
Box 6839-CR Kansas City 4, Mo.

DID YOU KNOW —

That there are some 2,000 proverbs and adages of African origin in

Brazilian Portuguese?

Nelson de Senna lists 530 in his “Africans in Brazil” in addition to
1,580 Brazilian verbal expressions made up of one or more African ele-

ments.

*

That the Italian novelist Alberto Moravia (1907-

* *

) has a Negro

character, Homs, in his short story “Agostino” (1944)? Homs is member
of a gang of adolescents ranging in age from thirteen to seventeen and

372

is described as having thin lips and an almost aquiline nose.

THE CRISIS

Ce

HAMP
first ann
for high
signed t
ool sub
ish and
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FAYE1
EGE fa
James V
quet in }
ears’ Ss
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Williams

Bacca!
was Bis!
bury, N.
mn June
fessor 0}

with ma)
|

KENT!
April 29
or New
inth an
nd poul
Profes
ollege :

HAMPTON INSTITUTE announces its
first annual pre-college summer sessions
the |for high school graduates, a course de-

signed to correct student faults in the
eo- tool subjects of mathematics and Eng-
ing |\ish and to ease their transition from
ent jhigh school to college.
ag- |
ent |
can FAYETTEVILLE STATE TEACHERS COL-
EGE faculty and alumni tendered Dr.
James W. Seabrook a testimonial ban-
quet in May in recognition of his twenty
ears’ service as president. Principal
speaker for the occasion was Dr. Sea-

7 rook’s long-time friend, Dr. Sidney
ve, (Williams.

iw

a Baccalaureate speaker on May 31

was Bishop Raymond Jones of Salis-

bury, N. C. The commencement speaker
Mo. jon June 2 was Dr. Hornell Hart, pro-
—= fessor of sociology at Duke university.

a

| Harold T. Pinkett, first Negro archi-
vist at the National Archives, Washing-
, received the Ph. D. degree
y and archival administration
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, Wash-
ington, D. C., in June. He is the first
Negro scholar to receive the doctorate

jwith major study in these two subjects.

1 to °
ele- KENTUCKY STATE COLLEGE was host
\April 29-May 1 to the State Association
or New Farmers of America at its
ith annual convention and livestock
nd poultry judging contest.

Professor A. J. Richards, head of the
ollege romance language department,
jas one of the speakers at the first gen-
ral session of the sixth annual Uni-
ersity of Kentucky Foreign Language
onference held in Lexington.

gro
nber
and

RISIS
UNE-JULY, 1953

College and School News

SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY was host in
May to the debate teams from ten col-
leges. These were entrants in the annual
debate tournament. A special convoca
tion was held at the university on April
27 honoring students who had made a
“B” average or above.

Argie Lena Kelley, a junior from
Beaumont, Texas, will represent the
university on the sixth annual European
seminar tour this summer. The seminar,
sponsored by the National Student
Council of the YWCA, will visit Yugo-
slavia, England, France, Italy, Spain,
Germany, Scotland, and Switzerland.

BETHUNE-COOKMAN
COLLEGE

Daytona Beach, Florida

“A Four-Year Class A College of
Personality and Distinction”
Accredited by the Southern Association of
Colleges and Secondary Schools, the State
Department of Education and approved by
the United States Attorney General for non-
quota foreign students; a member of the
American Association of Colleges, American
Council on Education; and the Association
of Church-Related Institutions of Higher

Learning.
Offering Courses leading to the

A.B. and B.S. Degrees in:
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION @ SECONDARY
EDUCATION @ HOME ECONOMICS
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

With Majors in:
Physical Education
Music

Science
English
Secial Science Pre-Medicine

Modern Languages Pre-Pharmacy

TRADES DIVISION

Carpentry
Electricity

Tailoring
Masonry-Brick
Radio Auto Mechanics

Shoe Repairing Institutional Cookery
RICHARD V. MOORE, President
For further information and bulletin write:
WILLIAM DuBOSE, Registrar

BETHUNE-COOKMAN COLLEGE
Daytona Beach, Florida

IT’s

COPS PPI L OPEL LLLP IPL PL ODL OLD OL LS
iN ATLANTIC CITY
LIBERTY HOTEL

3
;
2 1519 BALTIC AVE. 4-1184
All rooms with private bath, telephone &
radio. Fireproof. (Open all year.
Write us for free literature & rates
2. Also our special Honeymoon Plan

CROOODOP OPED ODOC DDRO CORO CDCOLOOD

reccooeerooree)

COeeeererererenvererrerrererry

ALBANY STATE
COLLEGE

ALBANY, GEORGIA

A Four Year — Co-ed — Institution
Offering Degrees in:
Elementary Education
Arts and Sciences
Two-Year Cour-es:

Commercial Education
Home Economics

DR. AARON BROWN, President ;

CPPS PPPI PIL IP LOLI ID IL LOL IILD SD

MORGAN
STATE COLLEGE

Baltimore 12, Md.

DIVISIONS

Regular College of Liberal Arts. Co-
educational. Full-time study on the
campus,

Evening Courses leading to degree of-
fered in evenings at the Douglass

High School Building.

'

Summer — A six-week Summer School
Session, Special courses for public
school teachers.

All courses lead to either the Bachelor
of Arts or Bachelor of Science Degree.
For detailed information, write or call the
Registrar. Telephone: CLifton 6870.

the F
talent
NSSF
ing ou
gated
their «

Dr.
troit’s
main
) eighty.
on Ju
was de
Fayett
Smith

Livi
annual
held J
preside
the pr
Bell p
mon.

The
ference
with |]
State s

HAROLD T. PINKETT of the Na!
tional Archives, Washington, D. C., ha
received a Ph. D. in history from The

TALI
American University, Washington.

ger, he
has cc
“Journ
Society
Morro
langua;
cois M:
before
the Co
ing hel
Nashvi
Donald
“Prison
Crimin
Dryder
Clyde |
bert Cl

The chairman’s report of the Na-
TIONAL SCHOLARSHIP SERVICE AND FUNI
FoR NEGRO STUDENTS reveals that there
are more candidates under consideration
for major scholarships at leading col-
leges throughout the United States than
before. According to the report,
twenty-five percent more qualified stu-
dents applied for help than did las!

year.

ever

The NSSFNS is the recipient of :
two-year $170,000 grant from the Fund
for the Advancement of Education of

THE crisis] “UNE

, ha
1 The

on,

Na-
FUNI
there
ration
col-
than
eport,
d stu-
d last

u
S

of :
Fund
ion Ol

) eighty-fourth

the Ford Foundation for a southwide
talent search. This grant will help
NSSFNS expand its program of search-
ing out able Negro students in the segre-
gated South for scholarship aid toward
their education in the North.

Dr. Henry Hitt Crane, pastor of De-
troit’s Central Methodist Church, was
main speaker at CLARK COLLEGE’s
commencement exercises
on June 9. The baccalaureate address
was delivered on June 7 by Dr. M. La-
Fayette Harris, president of Philander-
Smith College.

LIVINGSTONE COLLEGE'S seventy-first
annual commencement exercises were
held June 2, with Dr. Chi Waggoner,
president of Phiffer junior college, as
the principal speaker. Bishop Herbert
Bell preached the commencement ser-
mon.

The college was host in May to a con-
ference On men-women relationships,
with Dr. Samuel Gandy of Virginia
State serving as the chief consultant.

TPALLADEGA COLLEGE’s Dr. Earl Hoer-
ger, head of the chemistry department,
has co-authored two articles in the
“Journal of the American Chemical
Society” during recent months; Dr. John
Morrow, professor of modern foreign
languages, presented a paper on “Fran-
cois Mauriac and Therese Desqueyroux”
before the romance language section of
the College Language Association meet-
ing held at Tennessee State University,
Nashville; and sociology professor, Dr.

Donald Rasmussen, has an article on
“Prison Opinions About Parole” in
Criminology: A Book of Readings, a

Dryden Press publication edited by
Clyde Vedder, Samuel Koenig, and Ro-
bert Clark.

JUNE-JULY, 1953

CENTRAL STATE COLLEGE’s president,
Dr. Charles Wesley, and other CSC
administrators and faculty members at-
tended, April 17-18, the 82nd meeting
of the Ohio College Association and
Allied Societies held at Ohio State Uni-
versity.

Central State was host in April to the
All-Ohio Methodist Student spring con-
ference, with Eugene Durham of North-
western University Wesley Foundation

_ BEREAN
SCHOOL

PHILADELPHIA 21, PENNSYLVANIA
Founded 1898
Offers men and women practical
training in the interesting and
well-paying fields of
Business Administration
and Secretarial Studies

Merchant and Custom
Tailoring

Dressmaking and Design —
Millinery

in the shortest possible time —
at the lowest possible cost

One and two yeor diploma and
certificate courses
Also intensive, short courses

Day or evening sessions
Approved residences for out-of-town
students

LOUISE B. YERGAN, Principal
e

or further information, write

The Registrar—Berean School

1926 South College Avenue
Philadelphia 21, Pennsylvania

as the principal speaker. Alpha Kappa
Mu Honor Society of CSC awarded
ten certificates of merit to students
holding high scholastic cumulative aver-
ages on “honors day.”

Dr. William Wallace, who has been
serving as acting president of WeEsT
VIRGINIA STATE COLLEGE since October
22, 1952, was named president of the
institution by the West Virginia State
Board of Education on April 6 at a
meeting in Charleston. Dr. Wallace suc-
ceeds Dr. John W. Davis, president
emeritus, who now heads the “point
four” program in Liberia, West Africa.

Nineteenth annual women’s day pro-
gram was observed at the college on
May 3, with Dr. Margaret Butcher of

Howard University as the main speaker.
This event is sponsored annually by the
Women’s Senate of the college. Eleventh
speaking contest in the Spanish language
was held April 30.

Dr. Harrison Ferrell, dean, has been
president of

elected the Council of

Established 1887

ARTS AND SCIENCES

BUSINESS

AGRICULTURE

EDUCATION

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION

CENTRAL STATE COLLEGE

WILBERFORCE, OHIO

OVER THREE SCORE YEARS OF EDUCATIONAL SERVICE TO YOUTH
CHARLES H. WESLEY, President

In choosing a college, a student, his parents and advisors should give thoughtful
consideration to its program of education, its character-building potentialities, its
intellectual atmosphere, the scholarly standing of its faculty, the beneficial effects of
its student life and student activities, and the opportunities available for education
in leadership and social action. CENTRAL STATE COLLEGE is co-educational and
inter-denominational, and its students are selected solely on the basis of merit without
reference to race or nationality. A low faculty-student ratio of one to nine provides
virtual tutorial instruction and adequate educational guidance and counsel.
FULL STATE, REGIONAL AND NATIONAL ACCREDITATION
CURRICULAR DIVISIONS

State Supported Colleges, a group in
the West Virginia Association of Higher
Education. Dr. Herman Canady, profes-
sor of psychology, has been unanimous-

ly selected as president-elect of the
West Virginia Psychological Associa- |
tion.

Releases from the office of the regis-
trar at ALBANY STATE COLLEGE reveal
that eighty-eight students made the
dean’s list during the winter quarter.

Albany State was host April 10-11
to The National Alumni Association,
a group of thirty-eight colleges and uni-
versities. Representatives were present
from eleven and twenty institu-
tions.

states

SAVANNAH STATE COLLEGE’s amateur
radio club has been granted a license
by FCC to operate a short wave radio
station, W4ZJS; the college also has a
new water storage tank, and in April
dedicated its new George Washington
Carver Gym-Auditorium.

HOME ECONOMICS

INDUSTRIES

MILITARY SCIENCE AND TACTICS
(R.O.T.C.)

MUSIC

SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL ADMINISTRATION
For Application, Catalog and other information, write:

Registrar, Central State College, Wilberforce, Ohio

THE CRISIS

DR. W

preside?

Sixth
brated |:
Aiken,
Atlanta.

Secor
and lay
15. Th
Christia
lical lit
of teack

Three
to the
Henry
& Dwis
Dr. She
AME c
bert E,
Spelmai

Assox
Thoma:
Founda
search ©
academ

JUNE-JU

ler
es-
us-
the
“la-

Z1S-
eal
the
-11
on,
Ini-
ent
itu-

cur 1DR. WILLIAM WALLACE, the new

et president of West Virginia State College.

alo

Sa

pril Sixth annual men’s festival was cele-

ton | brated at vespers April 26, with W. H.
Aiken, prominent business leader of

Atlanta, as principal speaker.
Second annual institute for ministers
| and laymen was held at SSC on June
/ 15. The institute offers instruction in
| Christian ethics, English grammar, Bib-
lical literature, worship, and methods
of teaching religious education.

Three new trustees have been elected
}to the ATLANTA UNIVERSITY board:
Henry Minton, president of Church
& Dwight Co., Inc., New York City;
Dr. Sherman L. Greene, Bishop of the
AME church of Georgia; and Dr. AIl-
bert E. Manley, the president-elect of
Spelman college.

Associate professor of English, Dr.
Thomas Jarrett, has received a Ford
Foundation fellowship to carry on re-

SS an Oe See

academic year. Dr.

JUNE-JULY, 1953

search work abroad during the coming
Jarrett’s field of

specialization is 19th and 20th century
English and American literature.

The oil painting, “To the Future,” by
the New York artist Charles White, won
first prize in the university’s 12th annual
exhibition of paintings, sculpture, and
prints by Negro artists.

Twenty students enrolled in the
school of library service toured the li-
braries of Washington, D. C., during
April. Mrs. David McAlpin of Prince-
ton, N. J., daughter of the late New

Talladega College

Talladega, Alabama

ARTHUR D. GRAY, President
*

A Liberal Arts College of High
Academic Standards and

Cultural Background

SELECTED AND LIMITED
ENROLLMENT
od

a-TM ali lasil il te A Aa

THE REGISTRAR

ae a

LINCOLN UNIVERSITY

OF MISSOURI

Founded 1866
Member, North Central Association
of Colleges and Secondary Schools
*

Teacher Training Business

Art Administration
Music Music Education
Home Economics Agriculture

R. O. T. C. Physical
Mechanic Arts Education

The School of ae St. Louis

The School of Journalism.Jefferson City
The Registrar—Lincoln University

™ Jefferson City, Missouri -

377

CHEYNEY

STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE
CHEYNEY, PENNSYLVANIA

is a fully accredited member of
American Association of Colleges for
Teacher Education . . . and
The Middle States Association of Colleges
and Secondary Schools

PROFESSIONAL courses offered
Elementary Education B.S. Degree
Home Economics B.S. Degree
Elementary and High School
Industrial Arts
Elementary and High School
Graduation from a standard four-year high
school required for admission
For further information and catalog

B.S. Degree

write to Registrar.
JAMES HENRY DUCKREY, President

Cheyney, Pennsylvania

ATLANTA UNIVERSITY

Atlanta, Georgia
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF
ARTS AND SCIENCES

Offers courses leading to the Master's
degree in the fields of biology, chem-
istry, economics, English, French, history,
Latin, mathematics, political science and
sociology.

THE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK

a graduate school offering a two-year
curriculum for prospective social work-
ers, leading to the degree of Master of
Social Work or to the professional
certificate.

THE SCHOOL OF LIBRARY
SERVICE

requiring college graduation for admis-
sion and offering a curriculum leading
to the degree of Master of Science in
Library Service.

THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

a graduate school offering curricula
leading to the M.A. degree, designed to
meet the needs of men and women
who have chosen education as a pro-
fessional career.

THE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION

| @ graduate school offering thorough
theoretical and practical teaching in the
fields of business affairs, leading to the
| degree of Master of Business Adminis-
tration.

THE SUMMER SCHOOL

| in which the Atlanta institutions for
higher education of Negroes combine
under the direction of Atlanta University
to offer courses on both the graduate
and undergraduate levels.

Strong Faculty—Limited Scholarship Aid
For Information Address the Registrar

eR A

Morc
Negro i

York philanthropist and AU_ benefac-
tor, Dean Sage, attended the dedication

of AU’s new classroom building, Dean land sc!

: = Amhers
Sage Hall. May.

' Retiri

Dr. Rosemary Park, president of /ris Sop

Connecticut college in New London, |wide as
delivered the founders’ day address at |for his

SPELMAN COLLEGE in April. Annual jduring
concert of the college glee club, under }alumni
the direction of Willis James, was given} monial .
in Sisters Chapel on April 10. Dr. \
” \departm

cation,

Fisk University celebrated _ its jof the s
twenty-fourth annual festival of music |eastern
and art on April 22, with the first con- |ciation
cert of the festival by the Fisk Jubilee |tion anc
‘Singers. Highlight of the festival was
a dance recital, “Fiesta in Haiti,” fea
turing the Haitian Dance Group. LINC¢

The Delta of Tennessee chapter of jing a lit
Phi Beta Kappa was installed at Fisk | student
on April 4, with Dr. Goodrich White, | second
president of the United Chapters of|school ¢
Phi Beta Kappa and president of Emory} Annu
university, officiating at the installation | was hel
ceremonies. a large

Fisk’s new basic college curriculum} non-con
goes into operation with the opening of accordir
school next September. This marks the| receive |
most far-reaching changes in the uni-, Speci
versity’s program in twenty years. The| sentativ
basic college is primarily concerned with| employr
“general education” and is open to} 12-13 f
qualified students who have completed] versity «
the tenth, eleventh, or twelfth grades.

Fisk received $300,000 during the
annual trustees convocation in April | Secor
from the estate of Paul D. Cravath, | Cottec
for thirty years a member of the Fisk | was hel

board of trustees. is to br
Dr. Shearley Roberts, professor of | closer t
psychology and education, has been} Work
awarded a $5,400 fellowship from the | college’:
Fund for the Advancement of Educa- | 15-Aug
tion of the Ford Foundation “to afford ! additior

you the opportunity further to prepare) gram.
yourself for effective teaching.” Grou
structiot

.

JUNE-JU

THE CRISIS

MORGAN STATE COLLEGE was the sole
Negro institution, and the only Mary-
land school, represented at the recent
Amherst college science conference in
May.

Retiring Morgan trustee, Judge Mor-

of ris Soper was honored at a campus-
don, |wide assembly program and eulogized
s at}for his “devoted services to Morgan”
nualjduring a luncheon. On May 17 the
nderfalumni honored Judge Soper at a testi-
iven }monial dinner.

Dr. William Burghardt, head of the
department of health and physical edu-
‘cation, has been named secretary-elect

its jof the safety education division for the
\usic Jeastern district of the American Asso-
con- |ciation of Health and Physical Educa-
bilee |tion and Recreation.

fac-
tion
ean

was
fea .
LINCOLN UNIversiTy (Mo.) is offer-
r of jing a limited number of scholarships to
Fisk |student actors and technicians in_ its
‘hite,|second annual summer theatre and
s of|school of the theatre, June 16-August 7.
nory} Annual high school music festival
ation} was held at Lincoln on April 17, with
a large list of entries. The festival is
alum | non-competitive and schools are rated
ig of} according to their respective classes and
s the| receive appraisals of their performances.
uni-, Specialists and management repre-
The | sentatives from fourteen different major
with{ employment areas met at Lincoln May
n to} 12-13 for the university’s first all-uni-
leted| versity career conference.
es.
the .
April| Second annual FLoripA A AND M
vath, | CoLLEGE community day observance
Fisk | was held in May. Purpose of the day
_| is to bring the college and community
r Ol | closer together.
been | Workshops are an integral part of the
1 the | college’s summer session program, June
duca- | 15-August 14. The workshops are in
fford | addition to the regular summer pro-
epare | gram.
Ground has been broken for con-
struction of a $250,000 ROTC building

JUNE-JULY, 1953
>RISIS

FOR SIGHTS TO SEE
IN ‘53

iu

“Vacation and Recreation

Without Humiliation”

* Hotels

* Resorts $
* Restaurants

* Guest Houses

A directory of accommo-
dations unrestricted as

regards race.
e

Send $1 (or your check or
money order) with your

name and address to

TRAVELGUIDE, INC.
BOX 63, RADIO CITY STATION
New York 19, N. Y.

TRAVELGUIDE TRAVEL CLUB can help
make your journey more enjoyable.

Write us for information.

as result of an appropriation from the
state legislature.

Many rare African art pieces were
displayed at the HowarpD UNIVERSITY
art gallery May 6-10 in the university’s
exhibition of African Negro art, a part
of the university’s festival of fine arts.

Eleven Howard students, nine seniors
and two juniors, were inducted into Phi
Beta Kappa on April 8, following the
formal presentation of the national
honorary fraternity charter to the uni-
versity. The installment address was de-
livered by Dr. Ralph Bunche.

Faculty fellowships for advanced
study in the fields of sociology and
government have been awarded two
members of the Howard college of lib-
eral arts. The Fund for the Advance-
ment of Education has awarded Dr. G.
Franklin Edwards a grant for advanced
study in demography, and Dr. Robert
Martin a grant to study the content and
organization of courses required of all
students.

Office Positions Open
NOW

FOR QUALIFIED APPLICANTS

YOU can earn up to $250.00 a month
immediately after one year's training at
WILLIAM PENN BUSINESS INSTITUTE. Our
Placement Agency will assist you in secur-
ing a well-paying position. Courses offered
in Stenography, Business Administration,
Sales Promotion, Accounting. Also Academic
Division. Co-educational. Experienced Fac-
ulty. Dormitory Facilities. Approved for
Veterans.

Registration Periods
JUNE 1 to JUNE 29
SEPT. 14 to OCT. 29

“Superior Training For Superior Jobs’

WILLIAM PENN

BUSINESS INSTITUTE
1530 Lombard St., Philadelphia 46, Pa.
PEnnypacker 5-9831

For further information, write
C. W. MAXWELL, President

,

host
April 20-24 to the twenty-first annual
conference on marriage and family re-

VIRGINIA STATE COLLEGE was

lations; on April 1-3, to the annual
meeting of The Association of Deans
of Women and Advisers to Girls in
Negro Schools, and the National Asso-
ciation of Personnel Deans and A<¢d-
visers to Men in Negro Educational
Institutions; on May 1, the annual little
international livestock show, and _ the
annual open house of the school of in-
dustries.

Annual honors days was observed at
SHAW University April 29, with Dr
Joseph Taylor of the department of his-
tory at North Carolina college deliver-
ing the address.

Moses DeLaney, acting chairman of
the division of philosophy and religion,
has been admitted to candidacy for the
Ph. D. degree at Drew university, Madi-
son, New Jersey.

MorREHOUSE COLLEGE’s biology de-
partment has been awarded a research
grant of $5,395 from the Atomic En-
ergy Commission to study the function
of the thyroid gland by the use of
radioactive iodine. The investigation
will be conducted by Dr. James H.
Birnie, Dr. Everett Mapp, and Dr. S.
M. Nabrit.

The college debating team won sec-

|
|

ond place and a trophy in the South- |

eastern Debating Tournament held re-
cently in Atlanta. First prize went to
the University of South Carolina. With
the exception of Morehouse all the
other participating colleges were white.

Psi chapter of the Omega Psi Phi fra-
ternity led the four Greek-letter fratern-
ites in scholastic average for the first
semester of the current school year.
Scholastic average for the Omegas was
2.58.

THE CRISIS

a ER

¥
te

The O1
New

PP.

It is
in hig
creativ
no ful
the fo
siders’
is a pr
Deepl:
ronic,
the pr
zation
first m

“Cr
so mu
a tone

“M\

“Mi:
Booke

“No
rected

Tru
name
reason
to an
an ex
motiv:
tive Si
ger th
action
apart
over,
hates,

JUNE-J

host
nual
y re-
nual
eans
S in|
LSSO- |

Ad-

onal
little
the

f in-

~d at |
Dr
his-

1Ver-

in of
gion,
r the
Aadi- |

de-
earch
| En-
ction
e of
ation
s H.
ie, “eke

| S@C-
outh-
d re-
nt to
With
| the
vhite.
i fra-
alern-

- first |

year.
$s was

CRISIS

FORCES OF FEAR

The Outsider. A novel by Richard Wright.
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1953. 405
pp. $3.95.

It is today a matter of serious concern
in high academic circles that from the
creative literature of our times has come
no full-sized, tragic hero. Cross Damon,

the foremost of at least a dozen “out-

siders” in Richard Wright’s new novel,
is a protagonist who fits the prescription.
Deeply realized, in great measure By-
ronic, in greater measure symbolic of
the prime force of contemporary civili-
zation: fear, we meet him for what he
first means on page 2:

“Crossy, how come you're drinking
so much these days?” Booker asked in
a tone free of moral objections.

“My soul needs it,” Cross mumbled.

“Makes you feel better, hunh?”
Booker asked.

“No. Makes me feel /ess,” Cross cor-
rected him.

True, Cross, who has come into his
name» and psychological heritage by
reason of his mother’s fierce devotion
to an invisible and forbidding God, is
an extension of the pattern of murder
motivated by fear as formulated in Na-
tive Son. But he is so much more Big-
ger that one is led to read that his re-
actions gather a dignity, however proud,
apart from their supposed origin. More-
over, Cross loves as profoundly as he
hates, and thinks as deeply as he feels.

JUNE-JULY, 1953

& Book Reviews
é

A proud man laying about him with
the sword of terror, he cannot kill the
thing he loves—Eva; an intelligent man
with a probing mind, he has thought
his way “through the many veils of illu-
sion,” and thus “stripped himself of the
hopes and consolations of the mass of
mankind”; a _ psychological creation
which is “Negro” man, he is endowed
with a “double vision” which gives him
the peculiar perspective of standing at
once inside and outside of our culture:
hence, “Every emotional and cultural
convulsion that ever shook the heart
and soul of Western man” shakes him,
and he wonders why some people are
“fated, like Job, to live a never ending
debate between themselves and their
sense of what they believed life should
be?” A man, he is naturally moved by
the desire for “the body of woman as
woman,” often too intensively given
over to the given moment. Such is Cross
Damon the character.

The novel structure in which he
moves and realizes his being is an in-
geniously woven tale of two cities. Ac-
tion packed, The Outsider leads us from
the dawn of South Side Chicago to the
darkness of Manhattan’s Central Park.
Cross enters as a postal clerk living
physically and/or spiritually outside his
family and friends, and trapped between
the threats of an enraged wife set on
revenge and an impregnated child-
sweetheart set on marrying him—or
else. How he manages to rid himself of

381

his wife and then of his terrible situa-
tion is a feat of intuitive insight and
narrative cunning worthy of a Homer.
With weird curiosity he finds a hiding
place from which he observes his fu-
neral and a few days later is headed for
New York City. On the train he meets
Bob, another “outsider” with whom he
“defensive solidarity” in re-
sponse to “latent white hostility,” but
also district attorney Ely Houston (yet
another “outsider”), between whom and
Cross there is fought out upon the dark-
ling plain of psychological spirits a Dos-
toevskian battle of intuitive wills.

Once Cross in New York
the Communists begin to make provi-
sions for his indoctrination. The result
of his decision to feign cooperation with
their plans for him is the most shatter-
ing evidence against Communism yet re-
corded—if not the most devastating
possible. Moreover, this story is all the
more significant for the reason that
there was great need for someone of
political, intellectual and artistic inte-
grity to tell it. Nevertheless, it will af-
ford no measure of comfort for the
Byrnes’s and the Bilbo’s who are hardly
less real and ruthless as ideological can-
cers festering in the body politic of the
Free World. For if Gil, Hilton, and
Menti are representative of an obsessing
“life strategy using political methods as
its tools,” so is Herndon the epitome
of a system of social tyranny equally
evil and thorough in its capacity to warp
the minds of men into instruments of
hell. And it is with this story, in the
telling of which Cross meets Eva, that
The Outsider cuts its sure way into
classic greatness as a work of art. Here
Damon becomes multi-dimensional, a
credibly coherent part of all he has met
as modern man. In this respect, the
“irrational compulsion” which spells
murder to those for whom he has con-
tempt and fear becomes less arguable,
since he is also man as nation,

The supporting cast in The Outsider
reveals as never before that Wright

shares a

is settled

382

knows woman with all. the penetrating
thoroughness of a Strindberg. Cross’
mother, whom her son knew too well,
had returned to teaching in the South
after pursuing in vain the man who be-
trayed her love. But she was ever to
relive her sad story and transfer both
the passion and the blame for it from
father to son. Gladys, his wife, whom
he knew as well, had turned to mercen-
ary vindictiveness after losing him on
the terms by which she had won him.
From Dot, whose craving for security
expressed itself through deception, he
learned that “A woman’s business is
emotion and her trade is carried on in
cash of tears. Cross was not to
experience a true love until Eva came to
him out of the trap which the Party had
sprung on her. And when at last it
came, the shadow of Cross’ violent past
was to snuff its light.

It is quite likely that the little men
with big words will beat upon Wright's
creation, for they who stand upon the
principles of the Pharisee at the temple
and thank their God that they are not
like the others (and certainly not quite
like the others) will reject this book.
They are too much like the fish who
could not conceive of water. They live
by the fear which is the novel’s basic
theme and moral:

“White folks in America, France,
and Italy are the scaredest folks that
ever lived on this earth. They’re scareda
Reds, Chinese, Indians, Africans, every-
body.”

“But how come you reckon they so
scared?” an elderly man asked.

“Cause they’re guilty,” the tall man
explained. “And guilty folks are scared
FOURS! 5...”

Nevertheless, what is here rendered is a
true account of our times in humble
and facile prose, an eloquently articu-
late reading of the handwriting on the
iron walls of contemporary civilization.
It puts before us as only a truly gifted
artist can, a character (among char-
acters), a novel, and a question in di-

THE CRISIS

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RISIS

mensions hardly equaled by any other
American novelist who ever lived. In-
deed, this, above all, is the artist’s re-
sponsibility. “As they see or fail to see,
understand, act or fail to act, so may
the warm sun continue to shine upon
| living men or the cold moon rise upon
an empty earth.”
HENRY F. WINSLOW.

HENRY F. WINSLOW is a regular

Crisis book reviewer.

A WOMAN ON WOMEN

The Second Sex. By Simone de Beauvoir.
Translated and edited by H. M. Parshley,
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1953. XXX-
732+ XIVpp. $10.00.

Four Mlle de Beauvoir’s
two-volume Le Deuxiéme Sexe caused
;quite a stir in France. As France’s
second Existentialist next to Jean-Paul
Sartre and a widely read _ novelist,
dramatist, and essayist almost anything
she writes is likely to be eagerly read
and often bitterly debated. She is a close
friend of Richard Wright and she dedi-
cated her travel diary, America Day by
Day (1948), “To Ellen and Richard
Wright.” Four months spent in America
in 1947 aroused her interest in the Ne-
gro and his problems and this same
interest continually pops up in analo-
gies made in The Second Sex between
the positions of Negroes and women in
a “male dominated” society.

But despite the encyclopediac propor-
tions of this book and its fervid style its
thesis is dubious. Mlle de Beauvoir ar-
gues, with a wealth of detail, that the
peculiar position of woman in civiliza-
tion (Or more correctly her position in
the French variety of Western Civiliza-
tion) is the result of male oppression
and cruelty. Yet the author never seems
able to make up her mind whether to
blame woman’s “inferiority” on culture
or biology, or both. Since woman is bio-
logically specialized as a reproductive

years ago

-_

JUNE-JULY, 1953

agent, the disabilities which flow from
this function cannot be justly placed
upon man although his pigheadedness
and lack of understanding aggravate
them.

Unfortunately, Nature is not progres-
sive, has no modern ideas, no arguments
either in support of patient Griselda or
Monique Lerbier, and it is woman she
has selected for the child bearer. Bril-
liant or stupid, educated or ignorant,
beautiful or ugly, it is always the woman
who carries the child—not the man.
And no matter how helpful and sym-
pathetic the father, it is always the
mother who is responsible for the early
care of feeding and washing and diaper-
ing.

This is a central fact which Mlle de
Beauvoir does not like, and which is
really at the basis of her “gripes.” She
seems to detest children and to be com-
pletely unaware of the compensations
of motherhood, and sometimes the
reader wonders if she doesn’t detest all
women—except the intellectual and ar-
tistic few.

Her book is full of hasty generaliza-
tions, caricatures of American women,
and almost as many female myths about
males as those male myths about fe-
males she punctures in Part III. Perhaps
no previous woman writer on women
has devoted so many pages to the hor-
rors of female sexuality: “. . . le sexe
féminin est mystérieux pour la femme
elle-méme, caché, tourmenté, muqueux,
humide; il saigne chaque mois, il est
parfois souilleé d’*humeurs, il a une vie
secréte et dangereuse.”

Though this feminist tract is perhaps
not a masterpiece, it is a_ brilliant,
though often contradictory and con-
fused, piece of writing. Especially pene-
trating are her analyses of female ero-
ticism, and the formative years of the
young girl. All readers will applaud her
insistence that women are human beings
who should have opportunities commen-
surate with their talents.
(Continued on page 386)

LEGAL DIRECTORY

The following directory of some of the many lawyers known to us is carried in
response to numerous inquiries from readers desiring to contact attorney outside their home
towns. The Crisis maintains no legal bureau, and the N.A.A.C.P. handles only cases

involving color discrimination, segregation or denial of citizen rights.

ARKANSAS

J. R. Booker
Century Bldq., Little Rock
Telephone: 2-4248

CONNECTICUT

Jack Stock
1115 Main St., Bridgeport 3
Telephone: 5-1187

Tele
W. Harold Flowers GEORGIA
Masonic Temple, Pine Bluff
: 717
ee Firs Austin T. Walden
Suite 200 Walden Bidg., Atlanta 3 i
CALIFORNIA 28 Butler St., NE |
Telephone: Walnut 3536 |
Thomas L. Berkley & Associates 5(
2975 Sacramento St., Berkeley 2
Telephone: Berkeley 1-7417 ILLINOIS
Joseph Landis William Henry Huft
e 6532 Cottage Grove Ave., Chicago 37
413 Tenth St., Richmond Teleph - NO 17-6800
Telephone: Beacon 4-4782 a eo.
Thomas G. Neusom ;
Loring B. Moore
1111 E. Vernon Ave., Los Angeles 11] : Ss
Titeaiehek: toe: iat 123 W. Madison, Chicago 2
ats Telephone: FRanklin 2-1106
Matthews & Williams
303-308 Blodgett Bldg. INDIANA
2510 Central Ave., Los Angeles 11
Telephones: ADams 1-9737; 1-6712 Charles Quincy Mattocks
427 W. 30th St., Mattocks Bldg.,
‘ J Indianapolis 8
Lionel J. Wilson Telephone: Wabash 1444; Talbot 1791
Adeline & Alcatraz Sts. Berkeley
Telephone: OLympic 2-8976
MARYLAND
Vaughns & Yonemura 202
(Geo. R. Vaughns & Mas Yonemura) Ernest L. Perkins
1027 Adeline St., Oakland 20 1506 Penn Ave., Baltimore 17
Telephone: Twinoaks 3-9688 Telephones: MAdison 2091-2617
508

THE CRISIS

JUNE-JU

din
home
cases

JUNE-JULY, 1953

MASSACHUSETTS

J. Clifford Clarkson
1597 Main St., Springfield 3
Telephone: 32533

MICHIGAN

Herbert L. Dudley
4256 Russell St., Detroit 7
TEmple 1-1748

Floyd H. Skinner
Michigan at Monroe Avenue
Grand Rapids 2
Telephones: GLendale 5-7639; 6-1464

NEBRASKA

Paul I. Manhart
(Manhart & Churchman)

500 Securities Bldg., Omaha 2
Telephone: JAckson 0966

NEW JERSEY

J. Mercer Burrell
23 Howard St., Newark 2
Telephone: MArket 3-4769

Logan W. McWilson
183 Halsey St., Newark 2
Telephone: MArket 3-1779

Clifford R. Moore
237 Broad St. Bank Bldg.
Trenton 8
Telephone: 6-2711; 5-5634

OHIO

Harry E. Davis
202 Engineers Bldg., Cleveland 14
Telephone: MAin 1-1320

Clayborne George
508 Public Sq. Bldg., Cleveland 13
Telephone: CHerry 1-1835

Chester K. Gillespie
508 Public Sq. Bldg., Cleveland 13
Telephone: CHerry 1-3955

PENNSYLVANIA

Theodore Spaulding
154 N. 15th St., Philadelphia 2
Telephone: LOcust 4-4770

SOUTH CAROLINA

John B, Culbertson
New City Curb Market Bldg.
P. O. Box 1325, Greenville

Telephone: 2-7361; 2-7362

TEXAS
F. S. K. Whittaker

711 Prairie Ave., Houston 2
Office: FA4895

VIRGINIA

Reuben E. Lawson
403 Gainsboro Rd., N. W., Roanoke
Telephone: 9751

NOTICE TO CRISIS
SUBSCRIBERS

The next issue of The Crisis
is the August-September

number out September 1.

Don’t be disturbed when you

fail to receive a magazine

on August 1.

BOOK REVIEWS

(Continued from page 383)

The translator says he has “done
some cutting and condensation here and
there with a view to brevity, chiefly in
reducing the extent of the author’s illus-
trative material. . . .”” He has also sub-
stituted innocuous English words for a
few of the author’s earthier French
originals.

RELIGION IN AN AFRICAN Clty. By
Oxford University Press, 1953.
Geoffrey Parrinder, D.D. New York:
211pp.. $3.00.

An account of the religious practices
in Ibadan, Nigeria, the largest city
(400,000 population) in tropical Afri-
ca, Ibadanians follow a variety of faiths
ranging from African paganism (strictly
a European term) through Islam, Chris-
tianity, and a variety of separatist sects
which are offshoots of the various mis-
sion churches. Islam is dominant in the
north and is spreading much more
rapidly than the Christianity which pre-
dominates in the south. Native beliefs,
though persistent, show the influence of
both Islam and Christianity. The reverse
true, many “pagan prac-
have crept into both Islam and
Christianity,

is also since

tices”

Details of this syncretism is the sub-
ject of Dr. Parrinder’s book. He brief-
ly summarizes the African
religion, traces the influence of Islam,
especially in the north; gives a brief
history of the various Christian missions
and explains how the separatist sects
into being. Ancestor worship,
personal religion, secret societies, and
the relation of religion to morality
round out his study.

essence of

came

This book is especially valuable to
students of comparative religion and re-
ligious syncretism because it is one of

386

the few field studies by an expert of
the actual religious practices of an Afri-
can people.

THE TAYLOR FAMILY

(Continued from Page 343)

County): a leader of the Intermedi-
ate Girl Scout Troop; Sunday School
teacher and church organist.

Betty, 14, their older daughter,
plays the clarinet in the high school
band, last year won the Roselle’s
girl’s tennis championship and _ is
secretary of the Senior Girl Scouts
Jean, 11, is president of the Lincoln
School Music Club and has received
national recognition for her poster
drawings. The whole Taylor family
sings in the Episcopal Church choir.
Finding himself with a few minutes
to spare time on his hands, Lou Tay-
lor is thinking of assuming the post
of neighborhood Cub Scoutmaster. |
He and his wife have a special in-
terest in helping young people. Every
the Roselle Women’s Service
League awards a Union County
Band and Orchestra School scholar-
ship in memory of their only son,
Louis Robert Taylor, 14, who was!
an outstanding student, athlete and |
school musician when he was strick-

year

en with infantile paralysis and died |
suddenly in the summer of 1949,
ship in memory of their own only
Robert 14, who
was an Outstanding student, athlete
musician when he
stricken with infantile paralysis and
died the summer of
1949.

son, Louis Taylor,

and schoo] was |

suddenly in

THE CRISIS

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“2736 Oast Street
Portsmouth, Virginia
May 1, 1953

“Mr. R. C. Jackson, Superintendent of Portsmouth District
Southern Aid Life Insurance Co., Inc.,
312 Green Street
Portsmouth, Virginia
Dear Sir:
An injury followed by the sudden death of my late
daughter, Elnora Rodgers, has made me aware of both
the uncertainty of life and the great protection and secur-
ity given people by an insurance policy.
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pany, dated April 13, 1953, to our home and four days
later my late daughter died from the effects of stepping
on a rusty nail, but your company promptly sent us,
through you, a check for $250.00 for the death claim
when | had paid only one premium on the policy.
| am therefore grateful to both you and the company
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